Silence of the Dragon
by FTAnt
Summary: What happens when Natsu takes to heart what Lucy says in her outrage after he breaks something irreplaceable? Find out as I carve my own path in the first fanfic I've ever written. I plan on having some adventures and some fun moments with my favorite teams and individual characters. All within the standard Fairy Tail Universe. Enjoy! :) Rated T for occasional swearing.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N**

Hi you can call me Ant, but I've never done anything like this before. So I hope you find it strange if i ask you to put me through the ringer. We'll call it the accelerated learning plan! Any advice or critiques is welcome. This is kind of an idea I had floating around in my head for a while. After reading a bunch of other fanfics I had to get it out because of how moved I was by these incredible people with their amazing writing. Over time I hope to clue into this story some of their names or references to their works as my way of honoring them. I hope you enjoy it as much as I have writing it. I try to stay a few chapters ahead of the current release, as my own way of making sure I have something to upload ASAP. As an avid reader I know what it's like to be on edge waiting for a story haha. That said, Fairy Tail is owned by Hiro Mashima. I look forward to some feedback, brutal or otherwise. If you want to be brutal don't hold back, that's how we learn quickly :) This is just a quick prologue as to what leads up to the following events. I'm also trying to keep them..not so much as "in character" as I believe i'd like to capture the spirit of their characters. Anyway, enjoy!

* * *

 **Silence of the Dragon**

Our story begins on what was a calm evening in Magnolia Town. Lucy is enjoying a relaxing bath after a tough mission. Natsu, unaware of the fact that Lucy moved her bed away from the window and placed a nightstand by it to teach him to use the door. Natsu climbs in through the window and accidentally breaks something valuable...

Lucy sighs as she climbs out of a much needed bath. Team Natsu's last mission apprehending some bandits around Clover Town went a little more difficult than what was led on from the posting at the guild. Nonetheless, they got the job done. However, half the Jewel rewards went to repairs as per usual, no thanks to Natsu's recklessness. _"Honestly, our mission load could be cut in half if we could retain all of our Jewels!"_ Lucy thought to herself. " _We only got 80,000 Jewels because Natsu went overboard again and burnt down part of a village home!"_ She continues as she shakes a fist with tears water-falling down her face comedically. She wraps a towel around her body, and puts her hair up in one to dry, when suddenly...

 _CRACKKKK! BANG!_

Already figuring Natsu climbed through her window and tripped on the nightstand she walked out of the bathroom to survey the damage. Immediately her eyes gravitate toward Natsu, face down on the floor with a hand off to the side, the other shaking up in the air, and one leg bent upward shaking as well. " _This guy seriously needs to take a hint_ " Lucy laughs inwardly. After smiling at his predicament for a moment she decides to speak up while simultaneously contemplating a Lucy Kick back out of the same window he came in from. Walking toward him she yells out, "Natsu, how many times have I told you to use the door!?" She looks around for a second, "And where's Happy?"

Natsu recovers and looks up smiling-and sweat dropping at her while chuckling out, "Sorry Lucy! I didn't know ya put something here, and Happy wanted to get some fish from Mira back at the guild. Um..I think I landed on something." He sits up and grabs an old framed picture he was laying on. His eyes widen immediately as he realizes, and before he could finish a thought or say a word Lucy snatches the photo from his hand. Her eyes widen and her pupils dilate as she puts one hand to her cover her mouth, while tears start welling up.

Natsu, unsure how to react to this, attempts to coax some words into her. "L-Lucy I-" " _Natsu.."_ Lucy breathes out, cutting him off. "This is the last thing I was able to salvage out of my parents home before the repossession." Tears start to flow out as she stares down at a frame-cracked picture of a family portrait including her deceased parents, and a young Lucy. "I can't believe you'd be so careless as to break something irreplaceable like this!" She erupts as sadness turns to anger. All of the frustration over losing jewels, and replacing priceless town and family memorabilia started seeping out as the breaking of this portrait was the final straw.

"Lu-" Natsu began as he's immediately cut off by a raging Lucy as he cowers in the same fashion that Erza could make him if he were to accidentally burn her cake (which he has). "This...all of this needs to stop! We can't keep losing Jewels because of you breaking things all of time! I can't buy back this portrait of my mom and dad! You've got to be good for more than _destroying things!"_ she seethes out. Natsu, having heard the very statement that's been something of an insecurity of his, that he couldn't handle something delicate, or that people would only see him as a monster that breaks things, hits home as he stares at a weeping Lucy. He get's up goes in her direction in an attempt to console her but she turns away and hugs the portrait to herself crying.

Natsu, battling an inner turmoil while processing this entire situation get's overloaded, and not knowing how to handle this situation, decides it would be best to leave. "I'll..i'll go" He says with a downed look, as he climbs back out of the window. "Lucy...i'm sorry." Lucy, not hearing such a sad toned apology from him before turns around to say something to him, but he was already gone. Lucy, winding down her emotions from the situation closes her window and cleans up before climbing into bed.

The next morning Lucy get's ready to head to the guild. She didn't expect to see her two partners first thing in the morning considering what just happened the night before. She figured she'd catch them at the guild and forgive Natsu as usual. " _He did apologize"_ She thought to herself as she walks out the door and turns to lock it. " _Besides, I couldn't stay mad at him anyways! After all.."_ Lucy thinks with a slight blush. "He-"

 _"_ LUSHEEEEEEEEE!" Happy yells as he flies at her with tears in his eyes. "Happy? W-whats wrong!?" Lucy says as she catches Happy in a hug. "It's terrible Lushee! I woke up this morning and Natsu was missing! I found this letter next to me!" Happy cries out. "It's okay Happy" She replies, while rubbing his head trying to calm him down. "Let's see what the letter says" She looks at the front of it. "Happy" she reads. "Okay..." She continues to glance down at it's contents. _"Nice handwriting as usual"_ She muses to herself while sweat-dropping.

 _Happy, i'm sure ya brought this to Lucy, but I haft'a do a different kinda training. I'll be back when i'm all better._

 _Lucy, please look after Happy. I'm sorry._

 _-N_

"Natsu..." Lucy breathes out while tears start flowing. Hugging Happy tightly she yells out the only thing that comes to mind.

"YOU IDIOT!"


	2. Chapter 2

" _ **HE WHAT!?"**_ everyone yelled out in unison at the guild. "Lu-chan! I'm so sorry!" Levy says with tears prickling at the corner of her eyes, as she gives Lucy a well needed hug. "Seriously, I always knew he was an idiot but I didn't think that many ashes flew out of his head." Gray proclaims nonchalantly from across the table. "Gray-sama wouldn't leave Juvia like that would he!?" Juvia begs at Gray with worried eyes. Gray looks at her with a disheveled look and a sweat-drop, "uh...yeah..sure" he replies. "JUVIA DOESN'T KNOW WHAT TO THINK OF THAT!" she cries as waterfalls spill from her eyes. Chewing on a piece of metal nearby, Gajeel thinks to himself, " _Tch, Salamander is off training somewhere and i'm stuck here gettin' nothin' done!" "_ If you're a man, don't leave a letter!" Elfman yells. With a sweat-drop Lissanna, replies, "Elf-niichan I don't know what that means." Re-directing her attention, "Still, it's not like Natsu to leave like that, something must be going on." Mira sighs to herself at the bar, " _Sometimes I wonder about you, Natsu."_ Shaking her head in the process. "He'll come around." Cana says, while chugging a barrel of booze.

"I don't-EEP!" Lucy squeeks as a sword flies through the table she was sitting at. Erza, clad in a malicious aura, causing Gray, whom has now lost his shirt, to subconsciously cling to a nearby Natsu out of habit and yell out, "I'm sorry! We weren't fighting!" Only to realize he was actually hugging Juvia who had hearts in her eyes and a glowing red face. "They llllllliiiiikkkkkeeee eachother!" Happy muses as Juvia, who's head is now steaming at this point passes out. "Oi, you alright?" Gray asks with a sweat-drop, mentally scolding himself for his mistake before Erza cuts back in, "Happy, which way did he go!?" Happy, rightfully frightened yells back, "I WAS ASLEEP-I DIDN'T SEE, I'M SORRY ERZA-SAMA! I THINK I HEAR CARLA, OR A FISH CALLING ME" as Happy attempts to fly away before getting pulled back by the tail by a furious Erza.

"Whatever's going on we have to have to have faith in him." Master Makarov says catching everyone's attention. "I've taught you all that when you leave those doors you must vow to return." Everyone nods solemnly. "Now, we all have things we need to be doing. Lucy, Happy, come see me." Lucy nods and looks at Levy, "Thanks Levy-chan, we'll talk later okay?" Levy nods in response and heads over to Gajeel. Lucy offers a knowing smile at this and picks up a dazed Happy, then proceeds to head to Master's office.

Sitting down, Master continues from earlier. "Now Lucy, from the beginning tell me all of the details you can remember since you saw him last." Lucy nods and re-counts the events from the previous night, opting to leave out certain specifics that are sensitive to her, such who was on the photo, simply referring to is as a priceless family heirloom. Happy shakes his head, "Honestly, I tell him all the time to look first-BEFORE jumping through Lushee's window!" Which earns him a dirty look from Lucy. Master coughs, then asks Happy for his side of the story after thinking to himself, " _When is that boy ever going to learn?"_ Inwardly sighing to himself.

"Well, after eating some fish I got from Mira.." Happy stops for a moment to drool thinking about the fish with sparkles in his eyes. After a cough from Lucy him breaks out of it and continues on, "I went home and Natsu was laying in his hammock staring at the ceiling." Lucy's face saddens and tears well up a little as she thinks to herself, " _Natsu.."_ Happy continues, "I asked him what he was doing and he said he was thinking." Master rubs cuffs his chin for a second before humming, "Hmm..that's dangerous" Happy replies, "That's what I said!" Lucy thinks, " _Just how little do you think of him!?"_ Happy finishes, "After that I said goodnight and curled up in my usual spot, then when I woke up I found the letter and brought it to Lushee." Happy frowns as he finishes earning a comforting pat on the head from Lucy.

"From the sounds of it, he at least gave it some thought before leaving, instead of going on a whim somewhere." Master thinks out loud. "I'll reach out to some of my sources and see if we can come up with any sightings or hearings about him. In the meantime, you two should trust in him as a partner, fellow guild member, and mage of Fairy Tail." They both nod in response. "For the time being, when you go out on Missions make sure you team up with another group. I'll trust you two to figure that part out on your own. If you hear of anything or have any concerns come see me immediately." Lucy, still teary eyed says back, "Thank you Master, we will.." Master puts a hand on her shoulder and reassures her, "Natsu is strong, one way or another he'll make it back." She smiles and nods a thanks again before heading back into the guild hall with Happy.

"What are we doing to do Lushee?" Happy asks worriedly. Lucy scans the guild hall before replying, "I'm not sure Happy..maybe we should look in your guy's house. We might find a clue as to where he went?" "Aye sir!" Happy replies as they head out of the guild.

After searching the house, they came up empty handed, only finding that Natsu took his usual hiking pack before heading off. Surprisingly it was pretty easy to look around, Lucy hadn't been in their house for a while but it looked like the boys made a conscious effort to at least keep some of the trash off of the floor, with a few additions to their "memory wall" of jobs they took with Lucy. It moved her back then, and after placing a hand over her heart, it obviously moved her now. Not knowing what to do next she hugged Happy before thinking with a sinking heart, " _Natsu...where are you?"_

* * *

That night on the border of Fiore and Bosco...Natsu is walking along silently muttering to himself when he passes by two cloaked individuals, going largely unnoticed as they were engrossed in their own attentions.

"Do you feel anything around?" The smaller one asks. "No, I don't sense anything here. We have to stay vigilant and track down any stray pieces, if they fall into the wrong hands who knows-" He stops suddenly eyes averting up looking at the back of Natsu's figure fading in the distance. "What is it Jellal? Is something wrong?" Meredy asks. "No...just thought I recognized someone." He replies, then thinking to himself, " _Why is he alone? Did something happen to Happy and Lucy?"_ He looks down worriedly thinking to himself, " _Erza..."_

* * *

 **A/N**

From here out the chapters are going to be longer, for example the next chapter is about twice as long as this one. So far i'm happy with the direction of the story and i've had a lot of fun writing it! I really wanted the intro to the guild to be kind of "all over the place" in a sense, because I think the in the manga/anime they're kind of a chaotic guild, but that's what makes it so fun! Anywho, I can't wait to get out some new material for you! Also i'd like to celebrate my first review!

Demeex, I already pm'd you but thank you again for the input. My biggest challenge is writing new material while still trying to keep the feeling of, "This is Fairy Tail" Above all else I want to protect that as much as possible. Thanks again and I look forward to hearing back!

Thank you all to those who have followed/favorited as well, I truly didn't expect this so i'm really excited to push out some new content. The next chapter will be up soon!


	3. Chapter 3

After a night of little to no sleep, Lucy, not feeling the best in the energy department, decides to get up and get ready to head to the guild after waking Happy up. She takes a hand and stirs her furry partner who's in a deep sleep. "Hey Happy, time to wake up we need to get going soon" Happy stammers out something unintelligible. Lucy sighs, "Happy! Good morning! Wakey wakey!" Now shaking him awake before he yells out, "LUSHEE!" She stops and asks a little surprised, "What is it?" Happy retorts half eyed with a little drool coming out, "You aren't a fish now, and do you have to be so noisy?" Now visibly angered as an eye twitches she grabs Happy and yells, "Well don't forget that this is MY house and YOU'RE sleeping in it FOR FREE!" Happy yawns seemingly not having paid attention. " _He must get this from Natsu!"_ Lucy seethes to herself. "WAIT OUT THERE!" she yells while launching Happy into the kitchen. Lucy sighs and prepares to head to the guild.

Taking her usual route to the guild, with Happy in tow, she walks along the edge of the canal, garnering the usual warnings from the boating guys to be careful not to fall in. This time with Happy giggling to himself with Lucy only imagining it at her expense. She sighs and asks, "Hey Happy" Happy looks up, "Yeah Lushee?" She hugs herself and continues on, "Is it just me or does it...feel colder than usual?" Happy thinks, "Hmm...it is cooler, and you are strange.." He continues on as Lucy says back with an eye twitch, "I don't think that has anything to do with it." "Lushee strange...strange Lushee..it is cold, but Lushee is strange" Happy continues on. Lucy clenches her teeth and stammers out, "I can still hear you stupid cat!" Ignoring her insult, Happy decides to voice a question, "Hey Lushee, who should we go on a Job with first?" Lucy ponders for a moment, "Hmm..it's been a while since we did a Job with anyone else, I didn't think about it to be honest." Suddenly Lucy get's a wicked grin, deciding to punish Happy for the hard time he's given her this morning she make's an easy decision.

Now at the guild, "Sure, I'd love to join, we haven't gone on a mission together in a while." Erza says with a smile. Happy with tears streaming down his face mutters out, "So cruel Lushee.." Erza continues on, "I'll pick us out a Job and we'll head out after Mira turns in the request." Lucy smiles back and agrees, "Yeah! It'll be fun to to do a Job with you again. I'll be talking to Levy-chan, come get me when the request is accepted" Erza nods, "Of course, now.." she grabs a tearful Happy, "Happy you can help pick one out." And drags him off while he mutters, "So cruel Lushee.." With tears still cascading down his face in comedic fashion. Lucy who had started heading over to Levy's table had a devilish grin on her face, in the same way Natsu usually would when constructing an evil prank. "Serves you right, stupid cat!"

Heading over to where Levy is sitting, reading a book, she calls out, "Levy-chan!" Levy looks up with a smile, "Lu-chan! How are you? I was worried!" Lucy blinks, "Worried?" Levy replies, "Yeah! I wasn't sure how you were going to hold up with Natsu missing" Lucy deflates at the sound of Natsu's name. She-herself, didn't know how things were going to pan out, after all, they did just about everything together and suddenly he isn't there with her. "Don't look so down, Lu-chan!" Levy says with a serious expression. "Besides, Natsu isn't the only one acting strange.." Lucy looks at her with a bit of surprise as Levy continues with a slight blush, "Suddenly Gajeel got really motivated to go on a job with me..and Jet and Droy of course!" She finishes quickly covering up.

* * *

 _In an apartment nearby..._

"Gihihi, I may not be perfect, but at least I can learn from Salamander's mistakes." Gajeel declares while preparing some essentials for his next job.

* * *

"Ahhh, you're so lucky Levy-chan.." Lucy admits trying to cover up her jealousy at Gajeel's thoughtfulness. Levy notes this and frowns for a moment, opting to tease her friend to get her to snap out of it instead, "So you miss him huh?" She says with a knowing smirk. "I-it's not like that!" Lucy wails in denial with a blush on her face. Levy retorts, "Besides Lu-chan, it's only been a day, try not to think too much about it" Lucy froze. _"Has it only been a day?"_ She thought to herself. Levy jumps back in, "So Lu-chan, are you taking a job today? It'd be good to get out right now." Lucy nods in response, "Yeah, i'm going on one with Happy and Erza." Speaking of which, Erza, still dragging Happy, was headed in Lucy's direction. "Looks like our job is up, i'll see you afterwards!" she proclaims and she hugs Levy. "You too Lu-chan!" " _Although with Erza i'm sure you'll have a different set of worries"_ She muses to herself.

"We found an excellent job, with some decent pay as well. Isn't that right, Happy?" Erza states while looking down at a tearful Happy, "Ayee.." he mutters. Erza continues, "We'll be headed to Oshibana Town. Ever since the station has been repaired they've had an increasing number of muggings during the slow hours of departure. It'll be up to us to find and eliminate the problem. The reward will be 100,000 Jewel each, since Happy was kind of enough to offer his share." She explains, meanwhile happy utters out a solemn, "aye.." Lucy smiles and nods to Erza in understanding, offering a guilty look at Happy, " _Sorry Happy, i'll be sure to get you extra fish to make up for it"_ she thinks to herself. Erza releases Happy, much to his relief, and cups a hand around to the side of Lucy's head and smashes it into her armor in an awkward one handed hug. "So hard..." Lucy manages to squeeze out form the crushing force. Erza continues on, "Don't worry Lucy, we'll also ask around for Natsu's whereabouts while we're there." She states shaking a free fist, determined. Lucy, instantly forgetting about being crushed smiles big at this. "Let's get moving!" Erza commands. "Yeah!" Lucy exclaims, as Happy bellows out an, "Aye sir!"

The trip to Oshibana Town was peaceful. They went by train to save time. Lucy avoided asking too many questions about Natsu, instead, opting to make small talk with Erza about how her solo missions have gone. Happy ended up taking a nap while Lucy held him. Before they knew it, time had gone by and they were at their destination.

Deciding to be thorough, Erza noted down all the possible ambush locations around the train station, as well as the entry/exit points up to and including the train itself. She also ran down the dossier of victims to see if there were any connections between them, or any clues as to what the muggers had been after, only noting that the muggings took place later in the evening when the trains were picking up their last few passengers, and the town had been shut down for the most part. As for the stolen items they seemed random enough to be considered regular thieves stealing for petty cash. Erza then formulated a plan utilizing Lucy as bait in one of the highest target zones for the muggers. It was time to put it into action.

Lucy sighed as she held Happy, trying to play the part of the defenseless, beautiful maiden, wondering how many times she had been used in this manner. Thinking back to how big of a deal Natsu was making last time when he thought for sure they would attract some guards in the underground prison at the grand magic games by using Lucy's looks. She thought to herself with a slight blush, " _Does that mean he thinks-"_ Before she could finish her thought, the swing of a fist narrowly missed her, in due part to Happy flying her out of harms way. "Lushee, you gotta pay attention!" Happy yells out, "Sorry, and thanks Happy!" Lucy says honestly. " _Just my luck, Erza's checking the other spot!"_ Lucy thought to herself. Scanning her surroundings quickly she deciphered that there were three muggers in total. One to initiate conflict, one as backup, and one on lookout.

"Come on down little girl, it'll be easier on both of us if you give up and hand over your valuables." The first thug intimidates. Happy holding Lucy up mutters out, "So...heavy..." Lucy sighs, "I can hear that! Fine if that's how you want to play it, then.." She grabs her keys, "Gate of the Goat, Capricorn!" Capricorn appears, calm and collected as usual. "Lucy-sama, How many I be of service to you?" "Just subduing them is enough!" Lucy yells. Capricorn nods and dashes with breakneck quickness to the attacker, doubling him over with a well placed elbow shot to the stomach. The back-up man comes running in with a knife but is quickly disarmed by the hand to hand specialist before getting taken out with a hard punch.

The lookout man deciding there's nothing he can do for his comrades decides to tuck tail and run, only to run directly into a very unhappy requip mage. He looks up in sheer terror as just a look from her puts him in a catatonic state. "You gang up on Lucy while i'm away, then you leave your friends behind when they can't win. Now it's time you pay the consequences." Suddenly Lucy hears a loud scream, followed by a thud causing nearby objects not secured to the floor bounce up. " _Looks like Erza got the last one.._ " She thinks aloud with a sweat-drop.

Regrouping together after the muggers are tied up, Capricorn dismisses himself, "Don't hesitate to call upon me should you need anything in the future." He states with a bow as he vanishes back to the spirit realm. "Thanks Capricorn." Lucy states as she hugs his key to her face before placing it back on her belt. "Thanks to you too Happy" She says giving him a hug. "Aye sir!" he replies. The tied up muggers have a depressed look as Erza scolds them all at once, stating that they should do something productive with their lives to earn money, instead of stealing it. Like baking cakes.

After getting that out of her system, Erza turns to Lucy with a smile, "You did well. I'm proud of you." Lucy buckles and blushes a bit under the praise, "Th-thanks Erza." Erza smiles at her again, before stating, "Let's get these guys turned in, and have our reward sent to the guild so we can start asking around about Natsu." Lucy perks up at the idea and agrees as they head off.

The next morning they begin their search for any clues about Natsu. Lucy and Erza approach some of the staff at the train station. Lucy starts to have flashbacks at the first time they were there and Erza's..."methods" of questioning. "Erm...Erza let me ask I think I can get some answers non violently." She let's out with a chuckle. Erza nods, looking oddly depressed by this request, "O-okay" She stammers out spinning a finger around in a circle on a nearby object. Lucy sweat-drops at this and proceeds to ask some of the boarding crew. "Excuse me! Have you seen a man with spiky pink hair, a white scaly scarf, tan skin, black eyes, stands this tall" She motions with her hand exactly where the top of his head would be if he were standing next to her. "...and should have a green hiking bag with a red roll up bag ontop of it-" She gets cut off before she could launch a volley of other Natsu-related facts. "I'm sorry Miss, but I haven't seen anyone of that description. Lucy deflates with a frown, "Oh..if you do could you please send word to the Fairy Tail guild? He's very important to m-us.." "We will." The worker replies. Erza stares at Lucy with a grin that screams of, " _oh-hoh, what do we have here?_ " Lucy looks back at her with a slight blush, "W-what is it?" Erza responds, "Let's get going, our train leaves soon." Opting not to tease her comrade about it.

The group sighs objectively as they take their seats. Satisfied they got the contract done, but disappointed they couldn't get any leads on Natsu. Lucy and Happy get comfortable as Erza looks out of the window of the train, eye's landing on two cloaked figures. A gust of wind rushes through the station and blows the hood of the taller one open for a moment, he quickly grabs the top of it to pull it back over when he glances up at the train real fast locking eyes with a wide eye'd Erza who's got disbelief written all over her face. "Jellal?" She whispers. His expression softens and he offers her a smile as the train starts clunking forward as he covers up once again with his hood. " _Erza..Lucy and Happy as well. They're all fine, thank goodness.."_ He sighs in relief inwardly. Seeing Erza frantically trying to peer through the window back at the station Lucy asks, "Erza? What is it?" Erza softens, "No...just thought I recognized someone." Before smiling to herself as they head back to Magnolia, leaving a puzzled Lucy deciding not to question the smile on Erza's face.

* * *

 **A/N**

I'm having a lot of fun writing this story and I can't wait to get some more character flushed into it. Minor Spoiler? Next chapter is all GaLe! Thank you once again for the follows and favorites and I look forward to any reviews/critiques I can get to help better the story. One of my favorite aspects of Fairy Tail is that fun factor. So I hope that comes out in my writing in some way. Anyway, the next chapter will be up soon! I've been hard at work :)


	4. Chapter 4

As Lucy, Happy and Erza arrive back in Magnolia, Team Shadow Gear, along with Gajeel and Lily arrive near a small settlement in Waas Forest. A wild boar the size of a house had crossed the line separating Seven, from Fiore. A job request from the country of Seven was put out to return the boar, dead or alive. A jewel incentive was given to return it alive, as the value their creatures, magical in nature or otherwise.

"This will be a good training exercise to help whip you wimps into shape!" Gajeel proclaimed. "I'm already tired from walking!" Droy manages to breathe out before flopping over on the ground. "What do you mean wimps!? Team Shadow Gear is just fine, stupid Gajeel!" Levy bellows out with an angry pout. "Your teamwork isn't too bad, for a bunch of wimps, but it can still be better. That's why for this job, you guys are going to take down the boar, alive, for the maximum reward." Droy groans not liking the sound of it, Jet seems indifferent, but Levy fires back, "Just you watch! Team Shadow Gear doesn't back down from a challenge!" Gajeel fires back with a big toothy grin and his signature laugh, "Gihi, good, Lily has a map of the area. I'll keep watch from the side, let's see what you can do."

Levy, wanting to show Gajeel up and prove her strength dives right in, getting Droy back on his feet, and having Jet consult with Lily. Pointing to specific areas of the map, Lily instructs Jet, "According to the contract, the boar has been consuming a lot of the berries and vegetation the settlers use. It would be wise to check these spots out, in addition to the nearby ponds and streams where it would need to get water. Good luck." Jet nods, "Right! Too bad we'll be stealing the spotlight! High Speed!" He then dashes off for reconnaissance.

"Lily, can I see that map?" Levy asks. "Yeah" Lily replies handing it over to her. She puts on her glasses and starts studying it, mentally noting down the landscape, as well as different routes leading in and out of possible battle locations to keep collateral down to a minimum, as well as maximizing Team Shadow Gear's success. Gajeel steals a glance over her shoulder, silently admiring her determination, and how quick of a study she is. He then thinks to himself, " _Gihihi, too bad salamander. I'm having all the fun."_ Grinning with satisfaction of his plans.

A short while later Jet returned with news of the boar, pointing out it's location on the map. "I saw it around here, it's most likely headed to this nearby stream to get water or eat." Levy nods, "Thanks, good job!" She considers the new information and trails a finger over the map, " _Since it's around here...there!"_ She thinks to herself. "Alright, here's the plan! Jet, you'll antagonize the boar into this clearing away from the river, and hold it's attention. Droy and I will immobilize it from there, and then we'll take it down! We can then take it directly to the Seven outpost for verification and we can turn in our job request ourselves!" She says determined. " _That'll show that stupid Gajeel to call us wimps!"_ She convinces herself inwardly.

Planning and practice are two different things though, and now it was time to put the wheels into motion. Just as planned, Team Shadow Gear, with Gajeel and Lily staying back to let them do their thing, found the Boar by the stream Jet mentioned. "High speed!" he yelled as he ran up to the boar giving it a few kicks here and there to aggravate it into chasing him. The boar itself was every bit of what it was described to be. It was towering in height and very bulky in a muscular sense. Markings had shown that it was no stranger to battle as some of its flesh was scarred, and one of its tusks was chiped. Fortunately it fell for Jet's antics and it began to charge.

" _If this thing nails me i'm done for!"_ Jet thinks to himself as he coaxes the boar into the general location of the clearing. "Good!" Levy yells, "Now let's get it into position! Solid Script! Lightning!" A few bolts of lightning shift the boar closer to the spot when Droy jumps in, "Knuckle plant!" He yells as seeds scatter to one side of the boar and plants come out shoving it over just a bit before they're shredded by the beast. "Now!" Levy commands as Droy throws some more out, "Chain Plant!" The seeds bloom entangling the boars legs, and before it could shred those, Levy layers on, "Solid Script, Oil!" Causing the boar to lose it's footing.

Nearby, Lily grins before speaking, "They're a good team." Gajeel agrees, "Not bad, but they have one weakness, keep watching." Gajeel states as he starts shifting.

"Now let's finish this!" Levy ordered, as Jet ran full speed landing a kick on the boar's head...only for it to not be effective. Jet feels a tingle go up his side, as if he just kicked a steel wall. Just then the wild beast catches its footing and rips apart Droy's plants with ease. "Levy!" the men call out running in front of it to protect her only to take a hit, knocking them out of the way. Fortunately the boar's position was still compromised in a way so it couldn't hit them with full force. "Jet! Droy!" Levy cries out. Frustrated, she crimps her eyes shut ready to absorb the impact as the boar starts getting traction, while inwardly cursing to herself, " _All that planning and this is how it is? We're still weak! Now the boys are hurt! This is all my fault!"_ Tears start to trickle down as she braces herself.

"Iron Dragon's Lance!" Gajeel calls out as he appears above the boar, smashing it hard above the head, stopping it dead in it's tracks with an instant K.O. He then hops down and heads torwards Levy, whom, frustrated, still has tears in her eyes. "Go ahead! Gloat all you want!" Then turns away from him while covering her face. Gajeel responds, visibly annoyed, "I never said I would." Levy's expression softens a bit as he continues. "Your plan was perfect, if you lit the oil on fire you could of easily killed the boar, but you stuck to our goal for this mission, that takes guts." He grins as she turns around no longer crying. "Gajeel.." She mutters out giving him a warming look. He starts to sweat under the gaze, " _Shit! I didn't think it'd be that effective! What do I do from here?"_ He thinks to himself. Suddenly he remembers watching Natsu pick Lucy up after her match with Flare during the Grand Magic Games, remembering how moved she was that he went out there and did that. " _If Salamander can do it, then so can I!"_ He places a hand on her shoulder and gives her some genuine praise, "You did good, for a wimp. Gihihi!" Levy, chosing to ignore the wimp part blushed heavily as she hugged his waist. "Gajeel..thank you" She says, not noticing the blush dusting on Gajeel's face.

After breaking apart Gajeel decides to shift gears, "Let's pick these guys up, grab our prize-" pointing to the downed boar with a giant lump on it's head and X's in its eyes "-and head back home." He finishes with a grin. "Yeah!" Levy agrees as she goes to aid Jet and Droy. Gajeel looks up at the sky for a moment with a smile, " _Ya see that, you old bat? I'm still learnin'."_ He laughs himself once more before departing with his group. "Gihihi!"

* * *

 _In East Bosco.._

Natsu's mood is damp as he's struggling to figure out how he can overcome his problems, as prevalent by his inner turmoil, " _I really didn't want to leave, but I made Lucy cry."_ He stares down at his hands clenching his fists in frustration. " _Are these really only meant for destruction? There has to be a way! I can't keep making Lucy cry! I..."_ Frustratingly he uncoils a hand and places it over an eye, rubbing his forehead a bit.  
 _  
_Too caught up in his inner workings he fails to notice that he's been watched. "That's definitely him...He'll make an excellent test subject." An ominous voice whispers. "I'll make the move." Another one cuts in.

Still thinking hard about his situation he get's snapped out of it when a hand is placed gently on his shoulder. "Excuse me, but you seem like you're in some kind of trouble. Maybe I could lend a hand?" The man smiles. "I...I don't know..." Natsu confesses. Thinking quickly in an attempt to earn Natsu's trust, the man extends the offer, "Well how about I listen to what's on your mind? As they, you can always talk to a hollow tree." Figuring he has nothing to lose, Natsu explains his problems with being clumsy, and reckless and how he wants to learn to be more careful, and gentle so he never breaks something important again.

Cuffing a hand to his chin, the man comes up with a plan to win Natsu over. "Well, my good boy, I may just have the solution to your problem. If you're interested that is." A convincing grin plastered on his face. Natsu immediately perks up to this, "Really!? You can do that!?" He yells out with hope. The man provides some information, "Here we call it, 'Etiquette School'. Where-" He get's cut off by a frantic Natsu, "SCHOOL!? I'M NOT LEARNING ANYMORE FROM THAT MONSTER! ANYTHING BUT THAT!" The man clears his throat, "This is a different kind of school, you don't hit the books or anything like that, it's just a way of teaching you some..." The man thinks for a moment, "...delicacy. This way you'll learn to handle the finer things in life, without breaking them." Natsu, already convinced decidedly shakes the man's hand with tears cascading down his eyes while thanking him heartily, "YOU CAN REALLY DO THAT? THANK YOU! THANK YOU! YOU'RE SUCH A NICE MAN!" With a sweat-drop the man goes forward, "Eh..heheh, don't mention it. We'll have you whipped into shape in no time. By the way, you can call me Yotarou. "Yeah! I'm all fired up!" Natsu exclaims, then thinking to himself, " _Lucy, I won't be long. No matter what..."_ Thinking back to the last time he saw her face with tears streaming down from those big, beautiful eyes. ".. _You should always be smiling.."_ Natsu vows to himself.

Hidden not far away, the other figure grins wickedly to himself, " _Excellent.."_

* * *

 **A/N**

Thank you all again for checking these chapters out. I wasn't sure how I would do writing out how Levy and Gajeel would be, but it came surprisingly natural, to me at least. I think in the show and manga they just have that kind of a bond where it doesn't take much reason or flushing out to get a point across, and I really dig that about them. Plus Gajeel is such a great character to me. I have some more ideas in the works, and although I wanted to make this a GaLe only chapter, I kind of felt like it would be good to see what Natsu is up to, and to show how he's holding up, and more importantly where his character stands. I'm totally pumped for this story I'm just having a lot of fun really lol

If you have any critiques or anything feel free to hit it up with a review!

Oh..and I can't wait to check out Dragon Cry!


	5. Chapter 5

It had been a few days since Lucy, Happy, and Erza returned from their mission in Oshibana Town. Lucy constantly asked for updates on Natsu's whereabouts. The last time he went off training, he at least took Happy with him. Additionally he disappeared for a year. Both of these facts just didn't sit well with Lucy. There were too many things she needed to know. She needed to know why he left so suddenly. She needed to know why he didn't take Happy. She needed to know why he didn't take her. She needed to know why it felt so cold all the time. Finally, she needed to know why tears filled her eyes thinking about all of this. Sleep hasn't been treating her well either. Every time she closed her eyes and drifted to sleep she would be haunted by the overwhelmingly sad voice Natsu had when he apologized to her. Her only solace was the fact she could go see her friends at the guild. Which is where her and Happy were headed to now.

"Lushee what's the plan for today?" Happy asks floating around Lucy. "Hmm...We'll ask if there's been any reports from Natsu.. then we'll see who's available to take us for a job. Sound good to you?" She replies, earning an emphatic, "Aye sir!" from Happy. As they approach the guild they couldn't help but notice an unnatural calm to it. Typically the guild would be bustling with excitement, one of her favorite things was that there was never a dull moment at Fairy Tail. Until now. She opened the door and immediately her eyes darted around to locate a tuft of spiky pink hair, but it only garnered a frown before she realized it was out of habit. Even though she knew he wasn't there she had to check anyway. It was like how most people would wake up in the morning and grab a cup of coffee to start their day. She just didn't feel like her days were getting off on the right foot without Natsu to liven it up.

Inside the guild now Lucy began her usual routine of asking around to see if anyone has heard anything at all about Natsu. Sadly no one had any info for her. Gray looked over at her listening to her line of questioning to everyone she ran into concerning Natsu. " _Poor thing."_ He thought. " _Where is that idiot anyway? It's been kind of boring around here. I can't believe i'm thinking this but I'm starting to miss brawling with him. At least those are kind of fun."_ Gray was snapped out of his thoughts his partner. "Gray-sama." Juvia said. "Hm?" Gray replied. "Juvia thinks we should invite Lucy on our job." Gray raised an eyebrow as he looked at Juvia thinking to himself, " _Speaking of things I never thought id hear. I'd wonder about what's going through that head of hers but i'm afraid to find out."_

Juvia looked at Lucy sympathetically. Her eyes moisten a bit as she thinks to herself, " _Juvia knows how Lucy feels. Juvia knows how it feels when Gray-sama is gone like that. Lucy should be happy with Natsu-san right now."_ Juvia figured the least she could do for her friend and guild mate was invite her out to a job where she could help take her mind off of the pink haired dragon slayer. Deep down Juvia knew Lucy couldn't just drop the thought of Natsu, much in the same way that Juvia couldn't simply drop the thought of Gray, but having that distraction is nice, even if it's just the surface layer. After hearing an approval from Gray she jumped into action, scurrying up to the job board and picking one at Hargeon, involving security work for a shipping firm. Some of their shipments had been ransacked by attackers so they were in need of some mages to put a stop to this problem.

Approaching Lucy, she makes her offer, "Lucy, Juvia would like you to join her and Gray-sama on this job." Lucy looking a little touched mutters, "Juvia.." as she takes the flyer. "I'd love to go! Thank you so much!" The girls then head over to Mira and turn the job in and immediately collect Gray and Happy, taking off to the port town of Hargeon.

Arriving in Hargeon the group immediately get's to work, checking in with the port workers, asking about the nature of the attacks and when they've been occuring. As well as any sightings of a pink haired man with a scaly white scarf, courtesy of Lucy. "Hm, looks like they take care of the dock side before the ship even arrives." Gray mutters out loud in thought. Lucy thinks about all the facts they've gathered, " _If that's the case, then..."_ Realization dawns on her, and she decides to voice her opinion out loud, "So that means they know what's on the shipments before it even arrives." Gray nods, understanding what she's getting at before turning to Juvia. "Looks like we'll be staking out here. Did you find out when the next ship comes in?" Juvia replies, "Yes, Juvia also has a copy of the next manifest." The group examines it, determining that this will be the next hit. Lucy explains, "So far they've attacked and taken different product and material at random times to make it difficult for anyone tracking them. That in itself is a way to track them, however. Since the same materials constantly ship in and out of Hargeon. Meaning this manifest shows things they haven't taken yet. Logically, this will be their next target." Gray and Juvia nod in agreement. "Coincidentally, these attacks increased when the new port master came in. Something doesn't smell right with this." He thinks aloud before noticing that Happy with spirals in his eyes and drool coming out of his mouth is somehow grilling a fish right next to him. The girls sweat-drop at this and head off.

The ship won't arrive for a few hours so the group had time to kill. As they walk through the town, Lucy caves in and asks, "Gray? You've known Natsu the longest, do you have any idea where he went?" Gray responds, "No idea, who knows what goes through that morons head anyways." Lucy frowns looking down. Gray sweats feeling a little bad and attempts to cheer her up, "At least since he's met you things actually do go through his head." Lucy perks up to this feeling touched, " _Gray.."_ Happy jumps in not missing the opportunity to tease his partner's thinking abilities, "That's dangerous!" Gray replies with a laugh, "Right? Who knows what'll come next. Maybe he'll start forming complete sentences soon." Happy and Gray laugh at Natsu's expense, while Juvia puts a hand on Lucy's shoulder in assurance, "Don't worry so much Lucy, Natsu-san will come back. Fairy Tail is his home. Juvia has felt the same way ever since she met Gray-sama." Gray listens intently as she continues, "Fairy Tail is a place where dreams are allowed to be born. Juvia loves Fairy Tail. It brought her Gray-sama, and she's never been more happy or thankful-" Placing a hand over her heart. "-Juvia thinks Natsu-san feels the same." She finishes with a smile, as Gray is silently thankful the girls can't see the blush dusting on his face since he's looking away from them, " _Damn..that was pretty good. Doesn't help that she's-"_ Before Gray could finish his thought, Happy flies in. "She lllllllliiiiikeeessss youuuuuuu!" Gray waves Happy off with an angry tick mark on his forehead, "Shut up! And do you always have to roll your tongue like that!?" Lucy laughs, happy that she has such good friends to keep her spirits up while Natsu is gone.

The time hits as the group get's into position. The shipping freighter comes in and docks. Just as some workers start unloading the cargo that's when the attack starts. A bunch of men with short cut pants, wrapped shirts and bandanas, start threatening the cargo loaders with short curved swords. Juvia goes to make her move but Gray stops her, "Wait! I need to confirm something. They aren't injuring anyone so let's wait it out a little longer." Juvia nods and they wait, suddenly the port master arrives. "There he is.." Gray says pointedly as they listen to the port master talks to one of his lackeys, "Gisou-sama, the men are almost finished." The lackey reports. "Well done! This will be our last one here and we'll be moving again." _"Just as I thought!"_ Gray exclaimed to himself, hearing what he needed to hear it was time to jump into action. "Let's go!" he proclaimed to his team. They nod and head into battle.

"Ice Make: Wall!" Gray makes a big wall cutting the dock off from the rest of the town preventing any escape. Juvia slipped into the water ahead of time and popped out behind most of the assailants. "Water Lock!" She imprisons a group of them. " _Nice combo! They really are a beautiful team!"_ Lucy thinks to herself. "What's going on!?" Gisou yells. "We're being attacked!" One of his lackey's responds. "Let's get out of here!" Gisou orders before they start running to the neighboring dock. " _That must be their get away ship!"_ Lucy thought. "Gate of the Ram! Aries!" Suddenly Aries pops out of nowhere, "I'm sorry!" Lucy sweat-drops, "Aries! Stop those guys!" Aries leaps into action, "Wool Bomb!" Most of the lackeys are encased in wool with hearts in their eyes, "It's so soft!" "Im in heaven!" "So comfortable!" Aries reports back to Lucy, "I'm sorry!" Before disappearing, "Thank you Aries" Lucy hugs her key before placing it back. "Happy!" She yells, "Aye sir!" He responds, grabbing a nearby rope from the dock and flying around the group of men with it, effectively lasso them before flying up into a knot as they all slam together, tied up. "Now it's my turn! Fleuve d'étoiles!" Lucy pulls out her whip and trips up Gisou. "Umpf!" He turns around, "Damn woman!" He reaches into his coat pocket and pulls out a pistol, aiming it at Lucy. "Ice Make Shield!" A shield ice protects Lucy. "Water Slicer!" A blade of water suddenly slices the gun in half, causing Gisou to freak out. Before he could make a dash for the boat Juvia hits him, "Water Lock!" Immobilizing him for a moment. Gray approaches, "Ice Prison!" Gisou is released from the orb of water only to find himself encased in an icy cage.

"There's no way I could of been figured out! Who are you in with? Let me out and I'll reward you all handsomely!" Gisou offers. "Even with fish!?" Happy excitedly replies with drool coming out of his mouth. "That's not much of a reward" Gray says nonchalantly. "So cruel.." Happy fades off with tears in his eyes. "Look" Gray explains, "We were hired to do a job, and as Fairy Tail mages we always deliver." Offering a cocky grin. "We knew immediately that this was an inside job. You never hit the same cargo twice, which meant someone knew what was coming before the ship arrives. You-" He points as Gisou sweats, -"as the port master here, are given the shipping manifest ahead of time so you know when something's coming so you can clear the dock, and have the right amount of men assigned. So it only makes sense that you also knew what to hit. The next bars you see will be made of steel." Juvia fawns nearby, "That's my Gray-sama! So amazing!" She wiggles with her hands clasped and hearts beaming out of her eyes.

The next day the group starts to leave town going up an all-too-familiar path for Lucy. She stops and looks back remembering when her, Natsu and Happy were running from the Hargeon Army back to who-knows-where. She looks up the street, recalling those moments exactly that changed her life forever, as she holds her hand out imaging Natsu pulling her along, smiling as tears fell from her eyes hearing Natsu's voice in her head, " _You wanna join our guild don't ya!?"_ Suddenly two hands grab hers, snapping her out of her day dream. "Lucy?" Gray asks. "Is something wrong?" Juvia finishes. Lucy shakes her head feeling the warmth from her friends in her heart. She explains, "This is the town I met Natsu and Happy in." She uses her other hand to rub Happy's head, earning an "Aye!" She continues on, "This is the street he pulled me down offering me to joint he guild. It's one of the happiest memories I have." She wipes away the tears as Gray and Juvia smile at each other knowing they gave Lucy a much needed boost. "Well then, let's head back. There's a guild waiting for you there." Gray says. Lucy acknowledges with a nod, "Yeah!" Before smiling as her friends lead her along back to Fairy Tail.

* * *

 **A/N**

Sorry I couldn't put this up sooner, I live in California and the pollen here kinda suffocated me the last day. After copious amounts of meds and bed rest I was able to get this out, albiet at midnight T_T But thanks for continuing to read, and i'd like to personally thank Snowflake for my 2nd review! It really means a lot to me and i'm proud of the way this story is shaping up. I was a little worried about writing a little Gruvia but again, it came pretty naturally, and I owe that to how well their characters compliment each other. Juvia might be a little...less Juvia than you'd figure, but I wanted to change her character slightly so she'd empathize with Lucy on her situation. So I hope you enjoyed this, and I'm looking forward to not dying from hay fever :D I'll have the next chapter up soon!


	6. Chapter 6

_She was dreaming. There were no faces, no streets, no buildings, no sounds. She could only see in color. What used to be vibrant hue's of bright colors were fading, and she could only feel...cold._

Lucy stood up, eyes wide as she looked around her room. Happy was laying at the foot of her bed sleeping quietly. She wrapped her arms around herself, recalling bits and pieces of the dream, if you could call it that. She could still feel a coldness settling in that ran all the way to her heart. Clenching in her embrace she frowned sadly, with only one thought surfacing, " _Natsu.."_

Another three days had gone by since her last mission with Gray, Juvia and Happy. Lucy didn't think it would be possible to miss someone so much, so quickly, but it also made sense in a way, after all he was her partner, teammate and best friend. In short, he was _her_ Natsu. The more she thought about it, the more she understood why she had started feeling colder since the first day he left. Fairy Tail gave her strength, but he was her warmth, and she wanted that back. Staying determined she go out of bed, smiling down at Happy who was sleeping with a smile, and drool going in and out of his mouth. She could only laugh, imagining that Happy was dreaming about fish or Carla. After getting ready and waking Happy up they headed to the guild.

"Lushee! Do you think Wendy will be there today?" Happy asks. Lucy thought for a moment and decided to tease him, "I think she's still out on a mission supporting Laxus and the Raijinshuu. Why do you ask Happy? Do you miss a certain someone?" She asks with a mischievous grin. Happy looks down twiddling with his paws with a light blush on his face, eventually stuttering out a nervous, "w-well..not exactly." Lucy with a wicked grin on her face decides it's time for payback, "you llllllllllliiiikeeee herrrrrrr!" Happy's eye buldge out of their sockets comedically, "WAHHHHHHH THATS STILL NOT BETTER THAN THE LAST TIME!"

As they approach the guild a thought occurs to Happy, "What are we going to now Lushee?" Lucy ponders for a moment, "We should check in with Master and let him know how things have gone. He's probably worried." Happy agrees, "Aye sir!" They head into the guild hall and right away Lucy notices it just isn't the same atmosphere. Usually there's a brawl going on, noise and banter and just the feeling of _fun_ typically oozes from the guild doors. Not now though, it's quieter, no one is brawling or arguing about anything. Everyone is kind of just stuck doing their own thing. Some people's behavioral patterns have even changed. Cana is drinking out of mugs instead of barrels, Nab actually took a job, Elfman isn't talking about what man does. Hell, Gray hasn't even stripped in two days, a new personal record that Juvia is not a fan of. In a normal world these would all be improvements, but Fairy Tail isn't normal, and these are not improvements in Lucy's eyes. The fact is, Fairy Tail just isn't the same without Natsu Dragneel. Lucy hasn't felt the same either. In fact, she's even been doing some of the things that Natsu would typically do. Like when someone points something out or draws a questionable conclusion to something, she would hop over and cuff part of her mouth with a hand and whisper her own opinions back and forwarth with Happy, even though the other person is clearly within audible range. Before heading into Master's office, Lucy wanted to stop and talk to Levy real quick, since she recently returned from her mission with Gajeel, Jet and Droy.

"Levy-chan! It's been a while, how did your mission go?" Lucy asks excitedly. Levy, giddy with good news beams back at Lucy, "Lu-chan! I have so much to tell you! It was really amazing!" Levy then goes into detail about how the mission went, explaining how big the boar was and how they handled it's capture. Lucy squealed about news of Levy and Gajeel sharing a hug, as Gajeel sat at the other end of the table propping his head up with a hand showing no real sign of paying attention or caring, or at least, that's what he tried to make it look like. In reality, he was silently praising himself, " _At least now I've caught up to Salamander, soon i'll have one over on him. Gihihi!"_ Levy cuts back in, "So Lu-chan? How are you? Have you heard anything about Natsu?" Levy silently prays for at least something, any sort of information to keep Lucy's hopes up. Lucy, somewhat expressionless thinks for a moment on how she wants to respond, instead opting to smile without any real meaning behind it and assures her friend, "Thanks Levy-chan but i'm ok. Happy has been keeping me company." She says, as Happy gets in a quick, "Aye!" Lucy looks over to where Master's office is, suddenly remembering, "Excuse us Levy-chan we need to check in with Master. We'll talk more later?" Levy nods as they run off, she then looks down with a sad look, "Gajeel.." Having previously been not paying attention seemingly, opens one eye and looks over at her grunting an acknowledgement. Levy continues, "There has to be something we can do...I can feel how sad she is, it hurts." Gajeel sweats in annoyance clenching his teeth. " _Salamander..."_

Meanwhile in Master's office, Master is talking through a communications lacrima. "Are you certain it's him?" Master asks, "Without a doubt." The voice responds. Master ponders for a moment, "And what about..?" The voice explains, "It's as I feared. Shattered pieces of the gate have been shipping out. We...confiscated a sample recently in Oshibana. It was to be shipped into Bosco." Master ponders when suddenly, "Oohhh spooky." "GAH!" Master flings back, startled. "First, what are you doing here!?" The communications lacrima snaps him out of it, "Makarov, I thought you were alone?" Master, remember that people outside of the guild can't see Mavis goes on, "Sorry I was mistaken. Do you have an idea what's being done with them?" The voice ponders, "No...we'll stay in touch." The voice warns before cutting out.

Mavis speaks up, "I'm glad you trust him, he feels like a good person." Makarov snaps out of his thoughts, "Trust comes in many forms. First-" He notices Lucy and Happy entering the room, "-Could you inform Erza of these developments?" Mavis nods and floats passed Lucy before looking at her with a smile, leaving Lucy somewhat confused as she heads over to Master. "Master? Happy and I wanted to check in with you." Master responds, walking over to them. "Ah, Lucy, I've been meaning to talk to you. How are you doing?" Lucy, not quite ready to respond to this question begins to mumble out, "Ah..uhm..well.." She looks down in the process. Before she could continue Master steps in placing a hand on her shoulder, "A trusted contact told me was spotted headed into Bosco at the border." Lucy's eyes widen as her face picks up with hope before deflating in thought, "I..I see. Thank you Master." She bows courteously and continues, "Happy and I are going to look at some jobs. We'll check back in soon." She looks up with a smile in an attempt to convince Master. He nods as she runs out with Happy.

"I think you did the right thing." Mavis says appearing out of nowhere and startling Makarov. "GAHH! First!?" Mavis giggles a bit before continuing. "You know them well don't you?" Makarov scoffs a bit, being prideful about the answer he's giving while closing his eyes and folding his arms, "What parent doesn't know their own children?" Mavis smiles, "It would seem that's the case. They'll find their way to each other, Natsu and Lucy." Makarov grunts in response, "hm?" Opening one eye to look at Mavis. "Just a feeling." She responds before continuing in thought. " _After all, they are the light and warmth of Fairy Tail. A light that can only shine brightly when it's warm, and warmth that can only burn brightly with it's light. The perfect compliments to each other."_ She smiles big, proud of her analogy.

Lucy storms through the guild with Happy in tow as she starts talking out her plans with Happy, "Ok Happy, we'll pack what we need and hit the train. If we're lucky we can start catching up-EEP!" Just as she's exiting through the guild doors a hand comes out and grabs the collar of the back of her shirt and yanks her back on the ground with Happy following suit. "Honestly, this type of behavior i'd expect out of Natsu, but not you too." Lucy looks up at who's stopping her and immediately starts sweating nervously, "E-Erza...I-" Erza looks up a little tearful as if her own child was just corrupted by something horrible before going on, "And here I thought you were the sensible one in the couple." Lucy blushes several shades of crimson as a puff of steam comes out of her head. "C-c-couple..?"

"Lucy, I can't say I blame you for what you're doing, but take a moment to really think about it. Can you do that for me?" Erza finishes offering a sympathetic smile. In her own head she knows she would be doing exactly what Lucy is doing should their roles be reversed. However, being who she is to Fairy Tail she has to do what's right by the guild before anything else. Lucy answers, unable to look Erza in the eyes, "Y-yes.." Erza, feeling a bit guilty about stopping her friend from going after her heart kneels down and gives Lucy a hug. A large part of her wants to urge Lucy on, and say, " _Go after him! You can do it! Kick his ass and drag him back to Fairy Tail!"_ but she also has a sense of duty. Lucy in the meantime, frustrated, can only shield her eyes as tears start pouring out. "Lushee.." Happy puts a paw on her as his own eyes well up with tears. Erza pats the back of her head as a parent would for their child, obviously able to tell Lucy really needed to get this off her chest.

After breaking apart they go their seperate ways. Lucy and Happy head home, Lucy resolved more than ever that she needs this, she needs Natsu back and she'll do whatever it takes to find him. She's a Fairy Tail mage just like the rest and if they can weather the storms that come and go for the guild, then so could she. She'll get plenty of rest now, and when she wakes up she'll get to work on finding him. Come hell or high water, she'll track down Natsu, train with him if need be, and bring him back to Fairy Tail. She promises silently to herself with a determined look, " _Natsu, one way or another, i'll find you. I told you before, it's always more fun when we're together."_ A light blush dusts across her face after re-thinking that last line, smiling eventually as she silently likes the sound of it.

Erza heads back into the guild, heavy in thought. Just then Mavis appears in front of her. "Ah, hello First Master, do you have more news for me?" She smiles. Makarov starts heading into the guild hall at the same time this is occurring. "Where did Lucy go?" Mavis asks. "Her and Happy went home to rest." She explains. "Oh..." Mavis says before starting to sniffle a lot. "I thought she would run off somewhere." Now starting to sniffle even harder with a little quiver to her lower lip. Just as her pupils start encompassing her eyes as if she just heard a beautiful love story she continues on, "Even after that nice man with the blue hair and tattoo on his face told us where he saw Natsu." Erza's eyes widen immediately at this realization, " _Jellal!?"_ Before re-directing her attention to The First, who's tears are prickling at the corners of her eyes. "I'm not crying! I'm not crying at all!" Sniffling some more as she cries a bit. Makarov starts freaking out, "F-First! Erza, quick hold her now!" Erza not knowing how to handle this also freaks out in her own way, "I-I'm sorry! I didn't know this would happen, it's all my fault." She lowers her head, "Please hit me." Makarov sweats, "Quickly soothe her with all your might!"

* * *

 **A/N**

Reviews! Thank you so much Snowflake, and Struedelcat! I'm glad you're enjoying the story so far. I've certainly been enjoying writing it. This chapter there isn't any action but I wanted to kind of flush out the feel of things a bit on Lucy's side so you can kind of see how she's pulling herself together and getting ready to move forward. I also wanted to introduce Mavis somehow, as well as show what and where I see a few other characters as, while still keeping their original quirks that I love so much :) I also read chapter 535 and i'm totally hyped, i can't wait to see Dragon cry as well! I've also had an idea floating around in my head about doing a one-shot of the boys getting revenge from the girls by drinking all the booze before they could get there and seeing what happens from there. So let me know if that's something you'd be interested in. I'd be releasing it at the same time as the next chapter so it won't interfere with progress on this. I appreciate all your follows, favorites and reviews, it keeps me motivated to try harder. As a sneak peak into the next chapter, we'll be seeing how Natsu's side of things is fairing! I can't wait!


	7. Chapter 7

In East Bosco, Natsu begins his "training" in the courtyard of the building Yotarou is staying at. " _Alright...steady...steady...easy..this is for Lucy! Man i'm hungry! I wonder how many fish Happy has caught so fa-CRAP!"_ He monologues on the inside as he trips and falls losing the egg that was on the end of the spoon. "HAHAHAHA!" Yotarou bellows out in laughter, "Man kid you really do have no talent for this kinda thing." Natsu whips up clenching a fist in anger shouting back, "SHUT UP! HOW IS THIS HELPING ANYWAYS!?" Yotarou explains, "Listen, if you can't even manage to keep an egg safe how do you expect to handle something even more fragile and expensive? Honestly, it makes me wonder how you've made it this far." Natsu's heart clenches. Growing up he's always had someone cleaning up after him or taking care of the things he would of otherwise broken. If it wasn't for Lisanna and Elfman who knows what would of happened to Happy's egg. As he got older in Fairy tail Mira would take care of the clean-up if he ate int he guild, and most of the time he ate at Lucy's after she joined the guild, and she would take care of the dishes. He's always losing or breaking something important. One time his scarf was almost lost to the wind but Lucy grabbed in in the nick of time and gave it back to him.

Steeling his resolve he pushed on, one way or another he was going to get through this. He went on this journey to begin with for Lucy's sake. Ever since he left he's been haunted by the image of Lucy crying, of her turning away form him after breaking that portrait. To him her face in of itself was a portrait. It was the most beautiful thing in the world to him and he wanted to protect that face, that smile. He took pride in bringing it out of her. No matter what the situation was when they were out on missions he looked for it, the way she would look at him. It gave him comfort, and warmth. It wasn't like the way the guild members would look at him. Sure they made him feel like he was part of a family, but Lucy looked at him indiscriminately. Just flat out accepting him without even knowing who he was or what he was like. In a sense, to him Lucy was purity. She was an incorruptible beauty that would never fade, and he made her cry. He broke something she cherished, and that guilt was an anchor around his heart. This is why he was here...with a spoon in his mouth...2 dozen eggs later.

"Hahahahahaha!" Yotarou kept laughing. " _I swear i'm going to punch this guy right in the face!"_ Natsu muttered to himself while shaking a clenched fist. Yotarou jumped back in, "Sorry about that, some things just never get old." He wipes a tear away. "How about I give you these to help out?" He holds up two black wristbands. Natsu cocks an eye confused as to what those are going to do. "How are those supposed to help?" Yotarou explains, "These aren't just ordinary wrist bands, they're specially crafted weigh magic down. Think of it as strapping on some weights to your magic power. It's my belief that the reason you're so clumsy when it comes to some of this stuff is that you inadvertently leak out too much magic power. This will tone it down some and allow you to focus. As these progress or not we'll add more or less to it. Once you get a grip on things we'll take them off in the end and you'll be super powered." Natsu exclaims wide eyed, "WHY DIDN'T WE DO THAT FROM THE START!?" He runs over excitedly pulling off his one wrist band and stuffing it into his pocket while strapping on the new ones.

"Now let's do a little demonstration." Yotarou pans over to a target in the courtyard they're in. "Alright kid, let's see what you got." Natsu rubs his wrists before balling up a fist, "I'm all fired up! This will be a peace of cake! Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!" His fists engulf in flame as he jumps out at the target landing a hard blow, shattering it to pieces. He looks down at his handy work before grinning back with pride at Yotarou. "Hey! Not bad kid! Let's see you hit a few more. We'll call it..blowing off some steam before we continue with our work from earlier." Agreeing completely he takes down the targets one after another allowing himself to de-stress a bit. After smashing the last target he stands up proudly, "Ah, I feel better!" Yotarou observes, "So tell me, how do you feel now that you've exterted some magic? Did you notice anything different?" Natsu thinks for a moment before igniting a hand a few times. To the naked eye you wouldn't notice a difference, but to someone as trained as Natsu, "Hm...it definitely feels a little more used up than normal and I ain't rechargin' like I usually do." Yotarou grins. "That is to be expected, think of when you would typically workout, do you expect to be able to lift something heavy after you just got done working out? This is the same concept. It'll take longer for your magic to recharge because you just worked it out more than usual, courtesy of these wrist bands. Now let's see you do the egg this time." He watches and Natsu, amazingly puts the spoon in his mouth, balances an egg at the end takes ten paces before turning around and coming back without dropping it, breaking it, or melting it with the spoon in frustration with a breath of fire.

Natsu celebrates, "I DID IT! DID YOU SEE THAT!? IT DIDNT BREAK OR NOTHIN!" Earning an applause from Yotarou. Natsu thinks to himself, " _Lucy...i'm one step closer. I'll prove to you i'm not just a monster that breaks things!"_ As Natsu admires his handiwork, a completely different set of thoughts occur from peering eyes..

" _Well done Yotarou..and to think we only came up with those bands as a means of testing, and for them to work so well. We'll continue testing, and soon we'll have our own way to fight back these monsters called 'mages'. "_ The vitriol in which he uses the term could send shivers down the thickest of spines.

Yotarou allows Natsu to have his moment of victory before praising him, "Hey there may just be hope for you yet, kid. Go ahead and take those off and we'll pick back up in the morning, I don't want you to strain yourself on the first day. What do you say we head out for a little something to eat?" Natsu gets wide and teary eyed, "REALLY!? THIS IS THE BEST SCHOOL EVER, AND THAT MONSTER ISN'T ANYWHERE HERE EITHER!"

 _Back at Fairy Tail, "ACHOO!" Erza sneezes then thinks to herself, "It must be a sign...Maybe I should get a piece of strawberry cake..."_

Yotarou sweat drops before ushering Natsu along, "You really are a strange one, now let's get out of here." He then thinks to himself, " _The results are even better than I imagined, and for it to work so fast. This makes mining out the broken pieces of the eclipse gate that much more rewarding. The men that have lost their lives. The families that have lost their homes due to their fights. The families that have lost their lives..."_ He grips a locket he keeps in his pants pocket. _"Soon we'll have a way to fight back, even if it's at a cost."_ He looks over at Natsu who beams at him in anticipation over the potential of food. " _Still...he's an interesting character. We'll see how things progress."_

* * *

Meanwhile at Oshibana Station, Jellal and Meredy are examining the samples they collected. They discuss among themselves, "It's clear to me what this is." Jellal states. "It's been excavated illegally at the site near the grand magic games. This is that sinister power I was feeling." Meredy interjects, "So what now, Jellal?" He responds, "Hm..now we have a sample, but we don't have a shipping location. We can only guess since we acquired it here at the station that it was to be headed east. Our next stop will have to be Clover Town." He says. "Meredy, do you understand what this means?" Jellal asks. Meredy ponders for a moment then cocks her head in a puzzled way. Jellal pushes on, "We need to follow where this sample was going. If this means what I think it does, not just Fiore, but all mages everywhere will be in danger. This is the work of a dark guild." He looks at Meredy, "Our way of life, all of our friends and loves ones. We must protect it all by putting a stop to this." Meredy nods in agreement, "Right!" Jellal drifts off into thought, as in the Fairy Tail guild hall, Erza is sitting down eating a slice of cake when Jellal's voice appears in her head, "... _Erza..."_ She goes wide eyed and drops her fork before whispering out a breathy, "Jellal?"

* * *

 **A/N**

Holy crap! All the reviews! Thank you so much for the input Demeex! I'm holding off on the idea I spoke about at the end of the last chapter. I'm still formulating in my head how I would have the guys portrayed if they were to get drunk and some of them i'm kind of tossing ideas around for. So once it formulates i'll be releasing a one-shot, unrelated to this story of the guys getting drunk this time, instead of the girls. I think it'd be pretty fun and could create some cool moments. As for this story, this was a shorter chapter but I wanted to kind of show you in my head where I have Natsu's standing on whats going on. Kind of what his motivations are looking like at this point in time, as well as some plot progression. I don't want to drag this story out too long but I do want to tie things together. I already have a vision in mind for specific scenes towards the end here. Thank you all so much for the support and favorites and follows and i hope more reviews come in. Looking forward to the next chapter im getting the itch to put some action in!


	8. Chapter 8

"Master Sagiso, I'm here to submit my report." Yotarou states. His master, a middle aged man, eager to hear how his project has progressed. "Go on." He commands. Yotarou nods and continues, "On the first day I noticed immediate results on the bands. As soon as I had Na-the kid put them on he said his attacks were gradually losing power, and he wasn't "chargin' back up" as he put it." Sagiso grins wickedly, "Good. Yotarou, you've done well. I'm also pleased to hear that my years studying and maintaining the gate for the kingdom wasn't a waste after all. Do you understand how the bands work?" Yotarou shrugs, "I've only figured out bits and pieces from what you've told me." Sagiso explains, "During my time as a scientist in Crocus, I was hired secretly to study the eclipse gate held at the arena for the grand magic games. The gate itself was powered by absorbing magic from the mages battling in the arena. When these mages battle and use their abilities they use and release ethernano, which is what the gate was absorbing. Some of my colleagues and I theorized the opposite effect should be possible as well. Rather than absorbing ethernano, it may be able to repel it. Since we've excavated remains of the gate, we've been able to synthesize that possibility by weaving it into the fabric of the band. Basically, it allows the subject to use what ethernano he has stored up, but not regain any based on potency attained through synthesization put into the materials. Now that we've established it works we can move on to bigger and better things. Soon those mages will be reduced to the common man, and when they realize our struggles, they will die. Yotarou." He hands the man some extra bands. "I trust you'll know what to do when he uses these." Yotarou nods. "When it happens, I want you to bring him here, we'll assemble our men back at the plant, and we'll move onto our plans for revenge..."

A few days have passed and Natsu's training hasn't exactly gone..swimmingly, but he has picked up a few things. He was told to handle paper plates, Yotarou explaining to him that if he can deliver an empty paper plate without losing it or having him fall down somehow then he'll be able to handle something with weight, such as a fragile glass piece. Several attempts leading to Yotarou to display varying emotions at Natsu's failures, such as face-palming aggravation, to bellowing laughter when he wearily crashes into something in a funny way. Eventually they settle down with a different kind of talk, something more or less Yotarou was interested in. "So kid, you never did tell me what her name was." Natsu looks up uncomfortably confused, "Heh?" Yotarou sighs, "The girl you're doing this all for. I doubt you came all this way to learn this kind of stuff to become a waiter at a restaurant, or pick flowers in a garden. I've been around the block a few times I know it when I see it, so what's her name?" Natsu stares blankly for a minute while sweating profusely before scratching the side of his head and turning away from Yotarou with a feint blush, "L-Lucy..her name is Lucy." Yotarou smiles and goes on, "Lucy huh? Sounds like a nice name. I had a wife. We had a son as well." Natsu blurts out, "How are they?" Yotarou chokes back the feeling, "I haven't seen them in a while..." He lifts his head up and stares at nothing, remembering that day as he rubs the pendant in his pocket..

It was during the attack when the dragons had flown out of the eclipse gate. He had gotten separated from his wife, Tsubaki, who had their two year old son, Ayame. "Tsubaki!" He grabs his wife's shoulders, "Stay down and stay safe, take care of Ayame, i'm going to keep an eye out and if one of those mages comes by i'll let them know we're in here." He plants a kiss on his wife before putting a hand over his son's cheek. The smile his son gave him would be the last image he would receive from the child. "Stay safe, Yotarou." Tsubaki commands. "I love you." He smiles warmly at her and nods before walking out of the door, taking cover as he watches intently for any nearby aid. A little while passes by, as he contemplates on checking on his wife and son, one of the dragon's ramping while fighting releases a breath attack, hitting Yotarou's house. The resulting explosion blasted him across the street and sent him tumbling into an alley way. He get's up wearily before looking in horror at what was the remains of his house. "No.." He tears up running across the street and desperately moving rubble away, the only things flashing through his mind, " _Tsubaki! Ayame!"_

He get's snapped out of his memory by a hand being planted on his shoulder, "Oi, if ya can do a school like this, and teach a guy like me. Then they must be proud." Natsu flashes a big smile similar to Ayame's causing Yotarou's eyes to widen and his gut to clinch. Recovering before Natsu could notice he responds, "Thanks kid, now let's move up, I think you're ready for a big step. " Natsu lights up at this. Yotarou claps his hands summoning out some extra men. "This time we'll be changing your wrist bands out." He hands them over and Natsu swaps them out. Yotarou comments, "Hey at this rate you'll be light on your feet and careful as a Ninja." Natsu looks at him with glossy, starry eyes. "REALLY!? I'VE ALWAYS HOPED!" He wraps his scarf around his head, forming a hand sign and doing ninja noises, "NIN NIN NIN NIN!" Yotarou laughs, "You really are a riot kid, now let's get this show on the road. Don't mind the extra people here either, they're going to be your..support to help contain any fire that leaks out. So, the same drill as before, but I want you to really let them have it. Let's see what you can do." Natsu not one to turn down an offer like this goes full blaze with his fists and mows down several targets before hitting an already charred wall with a Fire Dragon's Roar with all his strength sending a hot blast upwards as it connects. He walks back wearily to Yotarou, clearly exhausted as he pants out. "Alright...how was that?" Yotarou smiles, "You did good kid, now can you give me another fire breath?" Natsu attempts but only a puff of smoke comes out. "That's all I got." He says panting. Yotarou instructs him, "Alright kid, come here. I got a little something something for ya." Natsu smiles as he walks over feeling extremely drained.

Yotarou grabs Natsu and turns him around while nodding to his men, confirming that it's time. He takes a step back as a couple of his men approach, each holding a blunt weapon. Yotarou instructs, "Alright kid this is it, this is a graduation ceremony for passing your first class." Natsu lights up with what little energy he has left. " _Lucy..I did it. I'll be home soon and i'll prove everything to you!"_ Yotarou continues, "First i'll have you say something, then i'll give you a graduation present. Now, I want you to state your name, where...your newfound talents will take you, and why you're here." Natsu wasting no time, "I, Natsu Dragneel, will take my new talents back to Fairy Tail, where I can be with Lu-" He takes a hard blow to the head and starts to fall. "-cy" His eyes close as the image of Lucy is the last thing going through his mind as he fades to black. Yotarou catches him before he hits the ground, examining the blow as a small amount of blood trickles down his head. "So they really do get vulnerable when they're out of magic." Yotarou says aloud before looking over Natsu's face while thinking to himself, " _It's a shame not all mages could be like you, it was fun while it lasted, Natsu.."_ He looks over to his men, "Let's hit the road, we need to take him back to the plant and meet back with Master Sagiso." The men nod as they depart.

Back at the Fairy Tail guild hall, Lucy and Happy are making their typical rounds, trying to find something..ANYTHING to give them a clue as to where in Bosco, Natsu could be headed. If they weren't going to find anything today they resolved themselves to sneaking out at night and heading for Bosco to find him on foot under the guise that they'd be taking a mission out that way. " _I really don't want to keep anything from Master or Erza like this but.."_ Lucy thinks to herself as she frowns a bit sitting at the bar where Mira was serving. Mira notices this and drops her usual smile for a moment feeling bad for Lucy before heading over to tease her a little in an attempt to cheer her up. "Lucy, it's okay to be feeling a little love sick. You didn't mention the new look of the bar either. But the heart wants what the heart wants." Mira smiles while little hearts are floating around her head. Lucy suddenly really alerts jumps up, "L-L-Love sick!?" She blushes hard. "I-It's not like that!" Afterwards she thinks to herself, " _Did I really not notice the bar?"_ She gives it a quick once over, "Well..the colors are brighter than i'm used to.." Mira responds, "It's been kind of gloomy in the guild lately so I requested a refresher!" Overhearing this, Gray walks over and looks at the bar's new brighter colors of yellow and brown with a new counter top. He sweat-drops then blurts out, "Whoever came up with these colors is an idiot." As nonchalantly as ever. Mira gleams back at him before turning around with her face in her hands crying. "M-Mira chan! I didn't know it was you!" Happy chimes in, "Typical Gray making Mira cry fufufufu" As he floats off.

"Lu-chan!" Levy hollers as she heads over to Lucy, carrying a box. "Levy-chan! What's that?" She makes her way over to her friend and she curiously eyes the box. "Lu-chan this box is for you! We just came in-" Referring to Gajeel and Team Shadow Gear. "-when we noticed this box sitting outside of the door. It's got your name on it, but there's no return address or name." Levy thinks for a moment, deciding to tease her friend, "Say Lu-chan, would you happen to have a secret admirer?" She says with a sly face. Lucy denies it outright, "Not even!" As she takes the box wondering what's inside. She gives it a light shake, noting the obvious, "It's light.." She opens it slowly and carefully one flap at a time before peering inside. Instantly her heart stops and her eyes widen as a wave of emotions wash over her. "Lu-chan what is it?" Levy asks curiously. Lucy puts an arm in and pulls out the contents of the box, "Natsu's scarf..." Followed by a series of shocked responses around the guild, even Gajeel is wide eyed as he sweats a bit fully understanding what that scarf means to him, " _Salamander...it can't be."_ Lucy doesn't know what to think or how to feel right now, but after hugging the scarf and breathing in the scent of its owner and being instantly calmed by that alone her mind is instantly made up. She wouldn't be staying in magnolia tonight, she's going to find Natsu. She puts the scarf up to her cheek allowing it's scent, it's warmth, and Natsu's energy flow into her, both forgetting and not caring about everyone in the guild looking at her and what this gesture may look like. Almost as a mantra she looks at her friends and opens her mouth, echoing the only phrase in her heart with a confident smile, " _I'm all fired up_."

* * *

 **A/N**

Thank you so much for another review! I get so pumped up every time I see them because good or bad, it get's me fired up more and more to write. I really wanted to get some fighting in this chapter but after reading over the last chapter I felt like a little back-story was needed on our villains, as well as an insight into what they're going after and a little character push for Lucy. I just wanted to establish that she's done moping around and is ready to go out and find her man. I felt a little bad for Natsu writing this out, but it's necessary to push toward certain events and specific scenes I have in mind in the future. Also we have a name for our bad guy boss! His backstory will be revealed soon as the story winds down. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and i'm excited for the next! Thank you again for the follows/favorites and holy crap this story has over 2k views i'm literally shocked and beyond flattered! I've never written anything before so for this type of reception and viewership it really means a lot to me. I WANT TO SEE DRAGON CRY SO BAD! Cheers!


	9. Chapter 9

As the night sky fell upon Magnolia, Lucy and Happy packed for their trip. "Happy, did you get everything you need?" Lucy calls out to the living room. Happy zips up his little pack, now bulging to the seams. "Aye! I got all the fish!" He responds excitedly. Lucy smiles as she finishes loading up her suit case. She eye's the final item, Natsu's scarf. Several different emotions flood through her whenever she looks at the scarf. Natsu and his scarf were like him and his fire, they were inseparable, different pieces of a whole. She remembers the time when she was suffocating in darkness and fear vs Master Hades, when she was clinging to Natsu when all seemed like it was lost. He grabbed her arm and stood right up, delivering a moving speech to pick the group back up, and give her courage again. She knew this was one of her moments to move on without fear of what may be. A little incentive couldn't hurt though, so she hugged the scarf once more, letting it's warmth and scent flow into her almost as if she were hugging it's owner right now. Deciding it was time to get going to the train station she goes to pack the scarf before getting an idea. She smiles to herself and zips up her suit case, wrapping the scarf around her neck. "It's warm.." She mutters aloud as she pulls one end of it up and rubs it against a cheek. " _I'm on my way, Natsu!"_ She thinks to herself. Getting lost in her own atmosphere she fails to notice Happy staring at her. He flies around her giggling to himself, "fufuffufufu you-" he get's cut off. "HAPPY!"

Lucy approaches the guild hoping to leave a letter for Mira, figuring she would be best to break the news to everyone. Just as she's approaching the doors, "What are you two doing?" Lucy stiffens at the familiar voice and Happy let's out a wahhhh! "E-e-erza..uhm...we're just-" she thinks to herself, " _Confidence Lucy! This is for Natsu!"_ "-we're leaving. I know you won't like it but this is something I have to do! I-i'm prepared to fight! So d-do your worst!" Lucy threatens meekly in the overwhelming might of the re-quip mage. Erza smiles knowing this is difficult for Lucy. "Lucy, it's ok. I know why you're doing this, and that's why i'm coming along." Lucy jumps back in shock, "Ehhhhh!?" Erza continues, "I'm not the only one too, she looks over revealing the lineup of mages. Gajeel comes into view with an arm around Levy. "Gihihi, we'll get salamander." He grins flashing his teeth. Levy adds on, "Don't worry Lu-chan! We're with you!" Gray and Juvia are standing next to them, Juvia holding onto Gray's arm. Gray smiles at Lucy, "Don't think so lightly of us. That flame brain is stuck with us as friends." Juvia beams at Gray before looking at Lucy, "Lucy, we're here for you. We'll get Natsu-san back for you!" Lucy smiles warmly at her friends, no, her family, "Everyone.." As happy tears roll down her face. Erza chimes in, "This is Fairy Tail, if something happens to one of our comrades, we'll come fighting. Besides.." She gives Lucy a sly grin holding up one of the ends of the scarf, "It suits you." Lucy blushes under the teasing glare of Erza, thankful that she can hide her face somewhat in the scarf.

After wiping her tears up, realization dawns upon Lucy. "If you all come with me..won't you get in trouble?" Erza looks smugly at her holding up a sheet of paper, "We all took Job's along the way to Bosco so it won't look too suspicious. Lucy you're with me on this one." She nods in understanding as Gray and Juvia hold up theirs, then Gajeel and Levy following suit with smiles on their faces. "Alright." Erza commands, "Let's get going to the train station. Clover Town is our final stop, until then we'll be riding to our job locations to keep up the guise that we're all out working, and then we're on foot from there. Let's move!" Everyone joins in together, "Yeah!/Aye!"

First stop was Gray and Juvia's job working as bouncers for the Onibus Bar. They worked throughout the night as a good pair. Juvia using her abilities to sober violent drunks up with a dousing of water, and if they took exception to it Gray would step in and ice them over not allowing any insults hit Juvia, much to her delight, "OH GRAY-SAMA!" She yells, tackling her partner to the ground in a hug. "GAH! WE'RE IN THE MIDDLE OF A JOB!" Gray retorts. Other than a few incidents the night went pretty smooth and they were able to cash in the Job report, adding in a note to be sent back to the guild saying they were going to check the theater out and do some sight seeing for a few days, figuring that would be a good cover for them. Next in Kunugi for Gajeel and Levy's job. They were tasked to unblock a pathway in a mine shaft which was stopping progress for the workers. The tools they had weren't chipping away at an ore unfamiliar to them. Levy held up some light while Gajeel sniffed around the mine. "Hm..there's a rare ore in here, I can smell it." The proceed on, narrowing in on the specified location. The ore is shiny compared to the rest of the rock, and has a metallic look to it. Gajeel's hand transforms into a pick axe before carving out the mass and carrying it to a nearby room. He get's an idea and chips off a small bit and hands it to Levy, "Here ya' go Missy, it's Platinum." Levy's eyes brighten up immediately and she gasps, remembering how rare it was explained to be in one of her books. Touched by the gesture, she squeals in delight, "It's so cool! Gajeel..Thank you!" She hugs him after planting a kiss on his cheek. He grins a big smile hugging her back, "Gihihi." They depart, turning in their Job request also with a note, explaining they would take extra long since they're on foot due to Gajeel's motion sickness and trains as a cover up.

Finally in Oshibana, it was Lucy and Erza's job as waitresses in a cafe. Erza pulled in a bunch of tips using her charms while Lucy was busy serving drinks and bringing plates back and forwards to the counter. The scarf almost got in the way a few times but she adjusted, wondering how Natsu was able to keep it out of food and whatnot. She also almost got turned down for the Job due to dress code. Fortunately Erza saved the day when she noticed Lucy was reluctant to take the scarf off. Directing her plea to the shop owner, Erza uses a sad story, "Please sir. She can't remove the scarf, it's a memento from her long lost husband-" Lucy's entire head blushes several shades of crimson upon hearing this, " _H-h-h-h-husband!?"_ Erza continues on before Lucy's imagination can run wild like it did before. This time Erza poured it on, adding tears to increase the effect, "This scarf and this Cat-" She picks Happy up as he utters an, "Aye!" also with tears in his eyes mirroring Erza as she continues, "Is all she has left from him. If there's any way she can keep one.." The Cafe owner in a ball of tears sympathizes and gives a response, "She can keep the scarf, but the cat has to go!" Happy left the girls to their Job and hung out with Gajeel and Levy, mostly to ask about where Lily was. Gajeel explaining that he left Lily behind to keep up a new training regimen for Jet and Droy. Lucy had become oddly possessive of the scarf in the day and a half she had been wearing it. After completing the job at the cafe the girls turned in the request, also with a note stating they were going shop around for a few days to get girly stuff as their cover, as well as further accommodations for Happy in Lucy's apartment. Everyone re-grouped at the train station and boarded the mid-car heading to clover town...

* * *

 _Earlier that day..._

Jellal and Meredy were in Oshibana Town at a tavern, examining the samples of the gate they collected from one of the transporters as they planned on what to do next. Jellal speaks up, "We'll have to go back to the station and see if another transport is in progress. We need to find out where this is going to be processed. A sample size like this isn't particular useful, but to be on the safe side, we'll need to keep it sealed." Meredy nods, "Yeah! A train leaves at the end of the day to Clover Town. We'll shadow around the station just before it takes off." Jellal agrees, "Yeah, whatever the case we can't allow ourselves to be revealed. Let's check the area out in the meantime." The duo walks around town not seeing anything of particular help or use. Meredy picks up some different clothes to keep up their disguises. Finally the time comes and they head to the train station, staying on the side opposite to where people load/unload into the cars. Suddenly Jellal picks up on something, "It's a large sample size, it's unmistakable. We need to get on that train." Just as he finishes, "Last call for boarding to Clover Town!" They sneak aboard the last train, incidentally where Jellal was detecting remnants of the gate. He taps Meredy on the shoulder motioning to her to take note of the increased security guarding the man they presume is transporting. As the train starts chugging off they nod to each other, knowing that the stop in Clover Town is where they make their move..

* * *

 _At the processing plant..._

Yotarou lays Natsu on a tiled bed in the small infirmary they have on-site. Looking at Natsu while thinking to himself, " _I'm sorry kid, but these are the Master's orders, and you were the perfect candidate to run these tests on."_ He lifts Natsu's head placing a pillow underneath. " _I sent your girlfriend a little parting gift, hopefully that makes up for this."_ He eyes Natsu's wrists as different bands are on them now with small needles inside just allowing them to pierce the skin and let a little bit of blood show. Yotarou stands up and walks out closing the door behind him, " _It'll be over soon."_

* * *

 ** _A/N_**

Thank you so much for the continued support on this story! I'm sorry I couldn't upload this yesterday I was simply exhausted when I got home, I was today too, in fact as i'm typing this it's 2:17am T_T i'm super tired but I didn't want to miss another day. Also thank you for the review Snowflake! And thanks for the additional follows and favorites everyone else! This story is winding down to the climax, the next chapter will have a lot of fighting which i'm really excited about. The ships are sailing here and there. I also added in a little cameo to show homage to the writer that inspired me to think of this story, MissyPlatinum, Virtual Flames was the first fanfic I read i highly suggest you check it out as well as her other works which are simply amazing. So that about wraps this chapter up, thank you all very much and I look forward to your feedback :)


	10. Chapter 10

The train jolts forward as Lucy, Happy, Erza, Gray, Juvia, Levy and..."G-Gajeel!? Are you okay!?" Levy calls out as Gajeel has one hand folded over his chest and one up to his mouth as he starts sweating profusely. "Y-Yeah, i'll survive." He responds bleekly while internally scolding himself. " _Damnit! This is Salamander's problem! Why is it getting worse!?"_ Levy pulls one of the thinner books from her bag and starts fanning some air in his face while rubbing on his back a bit. She wasn't sure if it was helping at all until Gajeel spoke up, "L-Levy...Thanks." Managing a smile while sweating from the motion sickness. Her heart warmed knowing he wasn't the type to show too many emotions, let alone gratitude. So hearing something so sincere went straight to her heart. It became official, anytime they would take a motive of transportation she knew exactly what she'd be doing for the man she loved. She smiled back immediately at him as if to convey the very message her heart was in the act of writing. Gajeel thought to himself, " _There ain't no cure, but..this is nice..gihihi"_

In the next row of seats Lucy, Erza and Happy idly chat. Something's been on Lucy's mind since Erza decided to join, so figuring now would be a good time she went ahead and asked, "Say Erza.." Erza hummed a response. "..What made you change your mind about coming with me? I mean..Natsu could be anywhere." Erza smiled at Lucy, reading her like an open book but deciding not to tease her. "I have my own reasons of course, but we're a family, Lucy. We look out for each other." She reaches a hand out grabbing Happy's head almost affectionately as he utters out an, "Ay-UMPH!" As Erza smashes his head into her chest plate while continuing as if this is normal while Lucy sweat drops and Happy squeezes out a, "So..hard.." Erza continues while raising her other fist in the air shaking it as if cursing herself, "I tried to keep Natsu and Gray in line while also giving them the freedom to do what they want. If only I had been stricter with them this wouldn't have happened." Lucy reassured her waving her hands in front of her frantically, "E-Erza it's ok! I think you did a great job. Gray is a good friend and I couldn't imagine Natsu, other than the way he is. He may be a little reckless but I think he's perfect." She says with a soft expression, unconsciously rubbing the ends of Natsu's scarf. Erza thinks to herself, " _Lucy and Natsu, huh?"_ She smiles at the thought.

Behind their booth Gray and Juvia are sitting next to each other. "Gray-sama?" Juvia asks. Gray hums in response, "Hm?" Juvia looks him very sternly with a serious expression causing Gray to fluster a bit under her gaze. "W-what is it?" Juvia softens a bit, "J..Juvia wanted to say thank you." Gray relaxes a little but his curious mind wanders, " _Why would she be thanking me?"_ Juvia presses on, "It means a lot to Juvia that you would help Lucy find Natsu-san." She finishes as she smiles placing a hand to her heart, recalling the look on Lucy's face the day and the overwhelming sympathy she felt for her. Turning back to Gray, she smiled brightly at him, "Juvia is happy is you're here for them." She finishes by grabbing his arm with both hands in a couple-like embrace, in the way a gentlemen would escort his date. To both her surprise and elation Gray didn't pull away, but rather blushed slightly before looking away thinking to himself, " _D-d-damn, that was pretty cute..."_ He finally forces a sentence out, "It's not like I hate the guy, it's just boring around the guild without him around. Fairy Tail isn't Fairy Tail without Natsu." Juvia, who's been working on keeping her emotional spectrum around Gray a little calmer with some success finally short circuited as she passes out with hearts. Gray looks back over to see why he just felt something hit his shoulder. "O-oi! Juvia! What's wrong?" He gives her a light shake with his free hand before giving up. " _Oh well.."_ He thought before they sat in comfortable silence.

An hour passed as the train was coming to a hault in Clover Town. Everyone was preparing to leave the train. Levy was helping Gajeel get up to the best of her abilities. Lucy, Erza, and Happy got up only to find Gray and Juvia had fallen asleep while resting their heads together. Lucy smiled warmly thinking back to the mission they helped her with, and how they both grabbed her hand to lead her back to the guild. She couldn't help but think how great they looked together, and the position they were in now confirmed it. Erza smiled at them, thinking back to how Gray was growing up, always fighting with Natsu and never thinking about girls in a romantic sense. This gave her some hope for her friend. Just then from the back of the train, a large explosion rocked the car, waking up Gray and Juvia. Erza took point, "Looks like we may have company, Let's go!" Everyone jumped up and ran outside to see what was going on, and if they were going to need to head into battle or not. Erza requipped a sword, Juvia and Gray took stances, Lucy summoned Virgo, Levy was ready to cast a spell, and Gajeel was on the ground recovering from motion sickness. Suddenly, almost as if it was a blur of light a figure attacked someone, landing a blow hard enough to incapacitate it's foe, but not knock it out. The figure stood up, almost as if realizing something, it turned around and everyone's eyes widened.

* * *

 _A few hours earlier_

Jellal and Meredy settled in keeping up their disguise as tourists. Meredy excitedly pointing out random things from the window of the train with Jellal nodding in response every once in a while. An hour passed and they heard their targets conversing. Meredy prods Jellal in a whisper, "Let's get closer, we could get a lead without fighting." Jellal nods and they stand up walking down the aisle a booth or two before sitting back down. Just then they heard the tail end of a conversation between the transporter and some of his hired security, "-and to think news would travel down the pipeline that fast. Who knew he'd be such a wimp." The men chuckled a bit. "Seriously, who thought we'd actually bring down the _salamander of fairy tail."_ The sentence echo'd in Jellal's mind as Meredy gasped putting her hands up to her mouth. " _Natsu!?"_ Jellal thought. He looked at Meredy nodding as if he were projecting his thoughts. She understood what he intended immediately and nodded back with a serious look. The train carried on, eventually slowing down to approach it's stop. It was time to jump into action.

Just as the train came to a stop they made their move. Meredy stepped up, "Sensory Link!" Linking the two closest guards, just then Jellal with amazing speed ran up punching one of them in the stomach causing him and his linked associate to double over and hit the ground. Seeing this display, the transporter signals one of his guards. The guard put's an explosive device in a nearby room in the train causing it to blow out the side. The guard ushers the transporter out, "Get out of here! We'll ha-" The guard get's cut off by the sounds of screams as Jellal blasts through a few of them, leaving Meredy with the cleanup. Jellal avoids a hit with ease using the guard's momentum against him and tossing him into the opposing room on the car. Seeing his primary target fleeing he decides that he can't risk letting him get away, so it was now or never. "Meteor!" He shines brilliantly brimming with power before dashing at the man in a blur, stopping just before within the blink of an eye and powering off just before kicking him in the back of the leg causing his target to buckle. Just as quickly, and before the target can fully fall on the ground he strikes a blow to his back causing him to wince in pain on the way down. Just then Jellal detected the presence of familiar magic. Turning around he was met with wide eyes and gasps.

* * *

" _ **Jellal!?** " _ They all said in unison. Jellal turned around and grabbed the transporter before he could scurry away. Most of the train station has cleard out by the point in a panic from the resulting explosions earlier. Meredy, done cleaning up after Jellal in the train hopped out and noticed everyone, but was excited to see a familiar face, "Juvia!" Juvia looked around blankly before noticing the girl approaching, "Meredy-san!" Juvia exclaimed. "I hope you've been well?" Meredy answered, "Yes! But we'll have to catch up later, this is important." Everyone's attention lands on Jellal, and the man he's captured. Erza, finally clearing the lump in her throat since realizing Jellal was right here in front of her, asks the question. "Jellal, who is this man?" The man squirms under Jellal, "Don't talk down like i ain't here, lady! All you mages will pay for this, every single one of you!" Jellal ignores him and replies, "I've been tracking a dark guild associated with doing things with pieces of the eclipse gate." Lucy sucks in a breath, remembering those events. She bunches the scarf in her hands and hugs it for comfort and strength. Jellal continues, "Meredy and I heard him talking, I wish I could say this another way but, they're holding Natsu captive." As he finishes his sentence everyone gasps uttering _What's?!_ and _How's!?_

Lucy was speechless, it was like an arrow pierced her heart, that was attached to a boulder causing it to sink hard and fast. Before she could caught up in thinking too much she walked over to the man as her head was spinning looking for questions and answers before finally asking, "Where is he? What have you done with Natsu?" The man asks in return, "Who?" Lucy replies quickly, "I'm asking you where the salamander of fairy tail is, and his name is Natsu." The man asks back in a snarky way, "What's it to you little girl?" Happy and Virgo jump in at the same time with a double team attack, " _SHE LLLLLLIKKEEEEESSSS HIMMMMM!"_ Angry tick marks start rapidly multiplying over Lucy's forehead. "I'm asking you for the last time, and if you don't answer me." Her voice get's lower and her facial expression would rival Erza's in sheer terror, "Nothing will save you. Now.." She inches closer cracking her knuckles. "Where is he? What have you done with _my_ Natsu!" Moment's later the man was tied to a nearby light post with large lumps all over his face and huge knots coming out off the top of his head, and the group was headed to their next destination, ready to fight.

* * *

 **A/N**

Reviews! Thank you so much Snowflake and Dragneel562! I really appreciate your feedback and i'm glad you guys are enjoying the story. I've had so much fun writing it. I would like to apologize for not having this chapter up yesterday but i was simply exhausted by the time i got home. I was in the middle of editing when I was falling asleep in my chair so I had to call it quits, but here it is. When I started writing this I never imagined i'd have this many follows and favorites, let alone reviews. So thank you all for the continued support, it really drives me to keep writing more I just can't thank you all enough. The climax is next chapter, and afterwards I may do a prologue i had some ideas for. The overall narrative ends next chapter though, so with that, thank you and i'll say more next chapter!


	11. Chapter 11

The group moves through the town of Clover as they head towards their destination. Everyone is still reeling a little bit from shock after seeing a furious Lucy that even had Erza wondering where she got it from.

* * *

 _A dark aura appears around Lucy as everyone else takes a few steps back, sweating with nervousness and uncertainty, having never seen her like this before. She speaks as shivers run down the spine of the captive transporter. "Where is he? What have you done with MY Natsu!?" Before the man could even speak a word a fist rams down on the top of his head instantly forming a lump. He winces in pain and realizes he better start talking, because this girl isn't playing around. "Look, all I am is a delivery man, I pick stuff up and I drop it off, all I know is what I've he-" Before he could finish another fist strikes another spot on his head, now forming another knot as he cries out in pain. "OKAY OKAY! I heard somehow they captured the famous Salamander of Fairy Tail and are doing some kind of experimentation on him." He says covering the lumps on his head. Lucy digs in deeper, "Where is this place? Is Natsu a-alive?" The pain of even thinking about that question was like a shock to her heart causing a stutter. The transporter elaborates, "It's..it's by the hills where the old building used to be when the guild master's met up. It's a factory, but I don't know what its for i'm just hired to move goods." Suddenly punch after punch Lucy asks him over and over, "What about Natsu!? Tell me he's alive! How is Natsu!?" Before she could cause anymore harm Erza grabs a raging Lucy and drags her away kicking and screaming. Levy comments to Gajeel about the events, "Woah, Lu-chan totally pulled a Natsu." Gajeel nods placing a hand to his chin, "Maybe it's the scarf." Knowing where to go they head off..._

* * *

Erza chimes in, "I have a bad feeling about this stuff, I wish he could of told us what it was used for." Jellal speaks up, "I may be able to tell you a few things. I'm sure you're all wondering why Meredy and I are here." Most of the group nods. "Ever since the Eclipse gate was broken the kingdom was cleaning up the remains. As you may or may not know, the Gate itself had to absorb power from mages battling in the grand magic games. However, pieces of the gate have been excavated by an unnamed dark guild. I don't know what they plan to use the pieces for, but for the sake of all mages in existence we have to put a stop to this. The last thing you should know, all the people associated with this group...have been normal humans without any magic power whatsoever." Everyone's eyes grow wide with random gasps of realization.

Lucy walks in clouded silence as Happy flies up to her, worried. "Lushee..." He says with a tear forming. They've gotten closer recently and Happy has low-key been trying random things to keep Lucy's spirits up, so to speak, while trying not to worry himself to death about Natsu. Lucy unfolds her arms, it's quickly become habitual for her to feel cold without Natsu around. Her only relief being the scarf wrapped around her neck. She also feels a little better with her friends around her, but the coldness she feels goes down to the bones. She opens up capturing Happy in a hug to reassure him. "Happy, i'm sorry, but don't worry we'll definitely find him." She finishes giving Happy a squeeze. Levy looks on at her with a frown trying to think of something to cheer her best friend up, but this is a complicated situation. She get's snapped out of it when a large hand is placed on her shoulder with a gentle squeeze. Levy looks up to see Gajeel smile at her with a nod, as if to convey a message. Quickly understanding she smiles back at him and heads over to Lucy. She place a hand on Lucy's arm, "Lu-chan, I know it's hard but we'll get him back. We're all here for you and we're in this together." She finishes with a smile. Lucy looks back at her and everyone else's determined faces. She smiles back and softly whisks out, "Thank you, everyone, really." She looks down at Happy, "We're going all out Happy, let's do this for Natsu!" Happy utters back and excited, "Aye!" Levy falls back in with Gajeel holding onto his arm and giving him a subtle, "thanks." Smiling big at him. He smiles back with a "Gihihi."

Gray, Juvia, and Meredy are chatting among themselves. Gray, somewhat curious asks a question, "Oi, Juvia." Juvia lights up at Gray, "Yes?" Gray scratches his head before asking, "So...how do you two know each other?" Realization hits Meredy, "Oh, I can answer that!" She looks at Juvia almost as if to ask for permission, Juvia nods. "You see, when we were on Tenrou island I was one of the bad guys you could say. Some things happened and Juvia and I ended up fighting against each other. My top priority that day was..to kill you, Gray." Gray stiffens at this with a bit of sweat, "What!?" Meredy waves her hands to calm him down, "It was just at the time, as you know, i'm traveling with Jellal now to make up for our crimes. No hard feelings?" Gray sighs, "Yeah." Meredy continues on with a sly grin, "Besides, you should of seen how amazing Juvia was when she heard that you were to be eliminated. Rawwwrrrr" She purrs and mimics a cat paw. Gray blushes slightly looking away while Juvia swoons with hearts in her eyes. Meredy continues to tease, "So Juvia, have you made any..progress?" Winking while elbowing her slightly. Juvia blushes, "J-J-Juvia has been trying to improve. Juvia version 4.0 has been in work." Meredy cocks an eyebrow wondering what she means, deciding to inevitably drop it. Gray wonders to himself, " _She's still going on about that?"_ The trio trudges on.

At the forefront of the group, Erza and Jellal have been mostly silent. Erza too nervous to bring things up, and Jellal to worried he might screw the conversation up somehow. Eventually Erza breaks the ice, "Jellal..I-" She gets cut off, "Erza, I'm sorry." She looks at Jellal a little dumbfounded. He continues on, "I wanted to contact you sooner to let you know i'd be in the area but, we couldn't afford to lose the trail for this." Erza switches to a smile, " _He really does shoulder everything.."_ She thinks to herself before assuring him, "It's ok. What you're doing is important right now, if it wasn't for you we wouldn't be on our way to finding Natsu right now. You know, you don't have to keep doing this. You're a good man, and you have a home waiting for you." Jellal smiles affectionately at her. "One day my mission will end. When it happens you'll definitely know." Erza smiles ignoring the pang in her heart. They walk in comfortable silence a little while longer before Jellal speaks up, "Are you worried? About Natsu?" Erza thinks for a moment, "Honestly, a little bit. He can be reckless at times, but he always bounces back ever since I met him when he joined Fairy Tail. At this rate i'm becoming more worried about Lucy." She gives a knowing smile, "Who would of guessed those two would get so close so fast. Natsu will always be Natsu, but Lucy has really affected him in a good way. I'm happy he found her." Jellal looks back, thinking about how Lucy went ham on that transporter, "I think Natsu may of affected her as well, in other ways." They chuckle to themselves and continue walking on.

Finally the group walks up to the factory. It's large and expansive as shown by pre-plotted areas where future buildings would be placed. It gives everyone an eerie feeling. The factory is pentagon shaped and three stories high. It has two large ventilation silo's next to it with steam coming out. Three guards are stationed outside. One each by a silo and one by the entrance to the building. Jellal starts the planning, "I want everyone to be careful. First of all they're normal human beings without any magic power, so we can't go too hard on them or we'll risk killing them. Secondly, we have to assume, since pieces of the gate are here, there may be something in there we're unguarded for, so stay focused. When we're in, Gray and Juvia, I want you to sweep the first floor." They smile at each other then nod at Jellal, allowing him to continue. "Lucy, Happy, Levy, Gajeel the second floor." They nod as well, "Erza and Meredy the third." Erza smiles at him as Meredy gives an approving nod. "I'll look into the gate pieces and how they're being used here. No matter what I will put a stop to this. Everyone keep an eye out for Natsu. Now is everyone ready?" Everyone chimes in, "Yeah! (Aye!)

It was time to act, first the guards in the front had to be taken out. "Open the Gate of the Archer! Sagittarius!" Lucy calls forwarth as Sagittarius appears saluting, "Here I am, Moshi Moshi!" Lucy gives him his orders, "Sagittarius, we need you to shoot down the guards outside that building!' Sagittarius pulls out a few arrows from his quiver, "It shall be done, moshi moshi!" He lines up his shots perfectly firing off three arrows almost simultaneously. Everyone watches in awe as they hit their targets, one being pinned to the side of the silo with an arrow through a good chunk of his clothing, another taking an arrow to the knee, and finally the last getting shot in the hand as the arrow sticks into the wall by the door entrance. All three men cry out in pain but they'll live to tell another day. Sagittarius salutes again to Lucy before disappearing, "Call me again! Moshi moshi!" Lucy thanks her key as per usual, "Thank you Sagittarius!" Then places it back on her belt. Jellal speaks up, "Nice work, Lucy. Now everyone remember the plan, be safe, and let's come out of here alive." Everyone cheers together, "Yeah! (Aye!)"

The group enters the door and once everyone piles in, it immediately shuts and locks with a heavy duty actuator. Gajeel gives it a hearty tug before punching it really hard. "Ain't budgin." He says plainly. Suddenly the crack of a speaker system chimes in and the sinister voice of Sagiso echoes throughout. "I'm surprised it took you so long to get here. Then again what else are mages good for aside from destroying towns and murdering their people?" Everyone sweats as the atmosphere suddenly feels more dense. "I was planning on inviting you all here later on, fortunately we had a lucy break and the famous Salamander was kind enough to donate his body to my experiments." Several gasps and angered demeanors are let out. He continues on, "My dream has now become reality with this building, and with my willing test subject. I encourage you all to run wild, find me if you can. Here's a little incentive to get you moving." Several moments go by as some rustling is heard over the com. Sagiso comes back in, "Now just like we practiced my boy. Tell me, who are you?" A low broken voice devoid of any variance in pitch or emotion, almost robot-like comes in, "N...Natsu." Everyone's eyes widen with shock. Sagiso continues, "Tell me, what are you?" Natsu responds, "A m...monster." Lucy covers her mouth, even with her new found courage and determination she can only take so much before the floodgates open, allowing tears to cascade down her face. "Natsu.." She says breathlessly. Sagiso comes back in, "Good, good. Now tell me, what are monsters like you good for?" Natsu replies, "D..destruction." Sagiso finishes, "Looks like you've outlived your usefulness." The unmistakable sound of a sword unsheathing bellows over the com. The sounds of a sword piercing a body come out followed by Sagiso sounds amused, "This is an interesting development." He then cuts off the com system.

Unable to take anymore Lucy springs into action, "HAPPY!" The exceed understands immediately with tears in his own eyes, "AYE SIR!" He picks up Lucy and dashes up some nearby stairs before anyone could react. "Lu-chan! Happy!" Levy yells out running after them with Gajeel in tow. Jellal looks over at the remaining groups, "We don't have time to waste. Let's move!" Everyone agrees and heads out.

Gray and Juvia begin to sweep the first floor as instructed. Gray kicks in the first door he sees which appear to be a barracks of some kind for workers and guards to sleep in. He frantically looks around for Natsu ignoring the men grabbing equipment to fight him with. Things are happening quickly but Gray's mind races, " _He better not be gone! It..it just won't be the same!"_ Flashes of his childhood growing up with Natsu race through his mind. All the times they've argued and rumbled. All the times they've been scolded my and beaten up by Erza. He grits his teeth while a frosty mist starts coming off his body and fist. He charges with a scream, "DAMNITTT!" Clobbering the first guy he comes into contact with launching him into a few behind him. They recover and start to retaliate. Juvia chimes in, "Juvia will support Gray-sama! Water Lock!" The retaliators get trapped into the watery orb, but somehow one of them is able to cut through and break the orb with a oddly shaped sword. Juvia's eyes widen a bit, but looks at Gray understanding what he's going through given his history with Natsu. She thinks of her own short history, " _Gray-sama, Juvia understands."_ She thinks back to all the times she's watched Gray and Natsu brawl, or how many times Natsu made her laugh acting goofy in an attempt to make Lucy smile or laugh. _"Natsu-san, hold on! Juvia and Gray-sama are coming!"_ One of the men with a club lunches at Gray who puts up a good defense, "Ice Make Shield!" A Large shield of ice appears, but somehow the mace smashes right through it. Gray dashes backwards avoiding the blow. " _Something isn't right."_ He thinks to himself, " _Those aren't ordinary weapons, there's no way a simple mace could smash through my magic."_ He thinks back to Jellal's warning about them being normal human beings. "Tch..go easy on them my ass...Juvia!" She nods as gray ducks, "Water Slicer!" A stream of water heads towards the group of men as they ready their weapons to block it. Suddenly, "Ice Make Hammer!" Gray conjures a large hammer that slams down onto the men as they block Juvia's attack, knocking them out cold. Gray walks over and grabs some of their weapons, "These weapons.." He forms ice in his hand and places it up against the weapons and observes as the ice is pushed away, like opposing magnets pushing each other. "So that's how.." He looks over, "Juvia, let's keep moving!" She nods and they run into the next area.

Meanwhile Gajeel and Levy catch up to Lucy and Happy who encountered some resistance, a few men carrying the same maces as the ones fighting Gray and Juvia, and a few women carrying swords and daggers. Just as they charge Lucy, Happy picks her up and flies them over the guards, just before they can give chase, Gajeel leaps into action, "I don't think so! Iron Dragon's Lance!" A large pillar extends out of his arm slamming into the people giving chase to Lucy up against the wall. Lucy looks back, "Gajeel thanks!" He grins back, "Lucy! Go find Salamander! The shrimp and I will take care of the small fry!" Earning a, "HEY!" with a punch to the arm from levy. Lucy looks looks ahead as Happy sets her down and they continue to search different rooms. Behind them a battle is happening. "Solid Script Guard!" A barrier rises in front of Levy as the women fighting throw a dagger each at her. The daggers pierce straight through Levy's barrier, just before they can hit Levy, Gajeel appears in a flash as the daggers sink through his iron clubbed forearm, "GAH!" He winces in pain and looks back at Levy. "Are you ok?" She nods, "Gajeel..your arm.." He smiles at her, "Gihihi, just a flea bite. Let's take these guys." Levy looks determined and launches out an attack, "Solid Script Storm!" Wind suddenly whips up in the hallway they're in and causes the defenders to crouch down a little. Suddenly Gajeel jumps up almost as if he were riding the wind current, "Iron Dragon's Club!" He smashes down on the floor where the defenders are while additional clubs shoot out hitting various parts of the foes. They scatter out, as one of the women recollects and attempts to get a slice in on Gajeel with her sword, but she falls short, "Solid Script Hole!" Levy casts the spell as the woman falls to the floor below smashing into some equipment. Levy grins, "No woman's hitting on Gajeel while i'm around!" Gajeel grins largely as his fighting spirit increases, turning his attention to others. He looks down at his bleeding arm, "So I just gotta avoid those weapons huh? Gihihi, this'll hurt but you'll live." Discerning that an attack which can't be evaded by the simple block of a weapon is necessary he roars out, "Iron Dragon's Roar!" A wave of metal and shrapnel bellows out essentially gunning down all their foes ripping them up a bit. Gajeel scoffs, "Tch, be lucky I held back on that." He turns back to Levy, "Oi! Let's catch up to Lucy and Happy." Levy nods and runs off with him.

On the third floor Erza and Meredy are running and chatting at the same time. "Meredy, I've been meaning to thank you." Meredy looks back at her a little surprised, "Thank me?" Erza continues, "Yes. I wanted to thank you for sticking by Jellal and supporting him. It means a lot to me that he has friends around." Meredy blushes slightly under the unexpected praise with a laugh as she puts a hand behind her head. "Ahahaha, it's no problem really, he has a noble goal and we're happy to help. I'm sorry about befo-" Erza cuts in, "No, I understand, you're a better person now. Let's focus on saving Natsu. Meredy nods and they run into a squadron of men. Erza requips into her Heaven's Wheel Armor summoning out a flurry of swords. Meredy sweat-drops, " _So much for holding back. Then again who would expect any less of Fairy Tail."_ She jumps into the fray nonetheless, "Erza, I'll throw up a distraction." Erza nods and Meredy get's to work. "Maguilty Sodom!" Teal blades flare out at the group and start pummeling them. A majority are blocked by their weapons and shields but some get through striking some causing yelps of pain to squeeze out. Just then Erza appears up in the area crashing down on them with her swords. Surprised to see that they're completely ineffective against some of them managing to block. She immediately requips into her Heart Kruez armor and lands next to one of the defenders, grabbing his shield with both of her hands and launching it, with him still attached, into the other defenders causing a giant human pile-up. Meredy calls ahead to her, "Erza, keep going! I'll take care of these guys!" Erza smiles at Meredy, nodding as she heads to where they seemed to be guarding. Erza arrives, to a room secured with thick double doors. All of her instincts are telling her something isn't right about this room. She requips two swords and heads inside.

On the bottom floor Jellal ducks and dives staying hidden around the boiler room. He's searching for the purpose behind the gate pieces, and what exactly is being done with them here. He ends up tailing some of the workers moving bits and pieces of the gate on carts to the mouth of the boiler itself. From what he can observe in the shadows, it appears as if they are putting the pieces into the boiler, melting them down on special tins into a liquid state, then being mixed into molten metal and added into the casts to form swords, maces, shields, all kinds of weaponry specifically designed to take down a mage. Essentially this place could turn well trained garrisons of troops into new-aged templars capable of taking down anyone possessing magic. Right away Jellal knew this had to be stopped, so he sprung into action. "Meteor!" he lights up in magical energy taking out the workers blindingly quick before they could even react. Just as quickly he scaled up the spiral staircase surrounding the boiler leading to the other rooms laying down magic circles. "Grand Chariot!" They light up and explode out leaving gaping holes in the side of the boiler as heat quickly disperses out. Perched on the staircase leading into the 2nd floor Jellal's eyes open wide with shock as he stares at a large piece of the eclipse gate watching it slowly drip into the coals that melt it. "What...what does this mean?" He looks exasperated.

On the second floor following the loud explosion of Jellal's attack Lucy and Happy steady themselves before venturing forwards. They eventually run into a group of men but one appears to be fighting among them. Not sure what's going on Lucy makes a quick decision and attack. "Gate of the Lion, I open thee! Loke!" Loke appears pushing his glasses up to his eyes before responding, "Your prince is here. What can I-" He notices the scarf around Lucy's neck. "I see Natsu-san has become bolder. Honestly I was starting to get worried that he'd never-" Lucy cuts him off with a blush, "L-lets not focus on that! Right now we need to take these guys out! Let's go!" Lucy dashes off and goes into a baseball slide kick toppling over a few men as Loke heads in himself, "Regulus grant me power.." His begins to glow with power and quickly dashes, "Regulus Impact!" He punches a few of the men sending them flying. His foot glows with power as he kicks away the last of the people attacking the stranger. The man slumps over against a wall and sits down. Lucy and Loke run over to him to see what happened. From a quick glance he appears to have stabbed and has taken several wounds from combat and hes gripping something in his hand. Loke looks around sensing something. "I need to go, something here is preventing your magic power from restoring so you need to save your strength." Lucy nods at him, "Yeah, thanks Loke." He smiles at her and dissipates back into the spirit world. Lucy turns her attention back to the man. "Hey, are you okay?" He looks up at her huffing for air before eyeing something. "Ah...you...must be Lucy..." She looks at him shocked, "How do you-" Before she can finish he interrupts, "I was..able to take...these off..." He pulls out two bloodied wrist bands that been snapped. Lucy not sure what to make all of this offers some aid, "Save your strength! There has to be something I can do?" He grins catching his breath finally, "Yeah...a couple doors down, it's the infirmary. You'll find what you need in there." She nods, "I'll be back I promise!" And scurries off with Happy. The man thinks to himself as she runs off, " _He's a lucky kid.."_ Lucy runs with her mind reeling a million miles a minute when she reaches the door, swinging it open and her eyes widen suddenly feeling like all of the oxygen had been sucked out the air. Laying there on a gurney which had been propped up laid a motionless Natsu, who's wrists were blood stained and the color was fading from his body. His eyes were open but they were glossed over, and his usually vibrant, expressive eyes were faded and cloudy like nobody was home. Her breath finally returning to her she screams out, "NATSUUUUU!" As it echoes down the hall. With tears rolling down her and Happy's cheeks they run to him, finally reuniting with their partner...

* * *

 **A/N**

I know I said last chapter that this would be the climax but after feathering the story out I realized that there still too much to pour in before to end it here. So I apologize for the mix-up and as recompense, this is the longest chapter I've written yet :) Thank you for the review Snowflake! I'm trying my best! Finally I got one done before midnight too! Thank you all so much for the follows and favorites, and I've even been tagged as a favorite author which is really awesome, so thank you all for that as well :) I'm super excited for the next chapter, this entire time has been built up to this moment and i'll explain. The idea for this story came from this next moment. I could picture it in my head before I even wrote the first chapter and from this moment is where the ideas for this story was given birth basically. So look forward to the next chapter, which will absolutely be the last, followed by an epilogue, where I can finally mark this story as complete and begin my next project, which will be a few one-shots to test out different writing styles. cheers! :)


	12. Chapter 12

"I will love the light for it shows me the way, yet I will endure the darkness because it shows me the stars."

-Og Mandino

* * *

 _He was dreaming. He could only see darkness. What once was a world of full of vibrant light and warmth was now an empty void, and he could only feel..cold. Then a distant light appeared. It was small and he was drawn to it. Almost as if he was drowning, and this light was leading him to break water for air, he ran after it. The closer he got the more he noticed, it was...raining? However, it was raining in light. So he kept running..and running, gaining ground as the light he originally sought grew larger and larger, the more his strength returned as its warmth comforted him. Soon he approached a door. He grabbed the handle and turned...the light was almost blinding..._

* * *

"Ice Geyser!" Gray attacks sending a bunch of men flying out of commission. Reasons unknown to him he can feel his magic power dwindling quicker than usual and not returning. He looks over to his partner, "Juvia...are you..okay?" Juvia looks up at him with a smile while trying to steady her own breath. "Juvia is...ready to-" Before she could finish her sentence Juvia collapses. "JUVIA!" Gray yells as he rushes to her side, picking her up in his arms. "OI! Juvia! Say something!" Juvia looks back up still breathing heavily, "Juvia is..." Gray cuts her off at that, "It's ok.." He smiles affectionately at her, "You did good, i'm proud." He says as he raises a hand up to her cheek. Juvia's eyes immediately get glossy as she starts tearing up under the praise and leaning into his touch. "Gray-sama.." Just then a sword comes slashes at Gray's head but he frosts a hand up and catches it, just before it could slice through hand as it went through his magic. "Ah...I can feel it.." Juvia looks up in shock, "G-Gray-sama.." He punches the foe in the chest sending him flying while holding on the sword. He covers an eye with a hand, "I almost forgot.." He thinks back to a time when him and Natsu were kids fighting it out with their bare fists because they were completely out of magic power. " _Is that all you got pinky!?" "Bring it on snowflake!" "You slanty eyed loser!" "You perveted stripper!"_ Gray takes a deep breath before grabbing his shirt and flinging it off into the distance while tossing the sword down. He punches his left hand with his right with a large grin on his face while thinking to himself, " _This one's for you old buddy."_ He looks over at the last of the men on the floor who are holding steady with weapons out. Gray grins even wider as he mutters out, "I'm all fired up.." He dashes out at the first of the men planting his foot on the shield he's holding with a hard kick, shoving him down. He uses it as a boost jumping up in the air and crashing a fist down on the next guy while dodging a sword thrust in mid air. He whips his head over to where the last of them is kicking him in the stomach and sending him crashing into a wall. Just as the first guy recovers and stands up to charge Gray with his shield and mace he goes down revealing Juvia as she just water craned him in the back. She falls over breathing heavily having used the last bit of her magic power. Gray rushes to her side once more, this time picking her up bridal style and walking back towards the main room in the center.

On the 2nd floor Gajeel and Levy are searching door to door to make sure the floor is cleared. They eventually walk down the hallway noticing a blood stain on the floor by a wall. Gajeel doesn't recognize the scent so they keep moving. Eventually they see the infirmary and decide to check it out. Gajeel notices, "Hm? The door is open..and this scent.." He looks inside initially shocked but his expression immediately softens. Levy peers inside and her eyes widen with surprise and goes to open her mouth when suddenly Gajeel's hand covers it. He puts a free finger up to his mouth in a "shush" notion. Levy nods in understanding as she allows herself to get pulled off to the side. Gajeel leans down and whispers. "They need this. Let's wait out here." Levy smiles at him profoundly with a softness that could melt the thickest ice. She had so much pride in him for how he's become. A truly good man, and loyal member of Fairy Tail. Gajeel thinks to himself as he stares back at her with a grin. " _Salamander..."_ He thinks back to his fight with Natsu, as a member of phantom lord. How he lost and was sitting on top of a pile of rubble trying to figure out how he was going to move on from there. " _If it wasn't for you I wouldn't have any of this. Levy.."_ Flashes go through his head of all the times Levy defended his honor, or smiled, or laughed at him. " _Fairy Tail is my home now. I owe you at least this much."_ He wraps his arms around Levy and pulls her in close, allowing her head to rest against his stomach as they sit in comfortable silence.

A floor above, Erza walks into the room dawning her Heart Kruez armor and two swords as she approaches the master of this facility. "Ah, Titania, I should of expected you. You're quite famous you know." Sagiso says as he unsheathes two swords of his own. One is tempered black, the other a bronze color. Erza looks at him with determination in her face, and anger in her voice. "You're going to tell me what exactly you're doing here. You're also going to tell me what you've done with Natsu." Sagiso smirks, "You really want to find out? _Mage?"_ The vitriol in his voice is apparent. "Then come on, let's see what you've got, Titania." He provokes her as Erza quickly dashes as she strikes one of her swords down. Sagiso blocks with his special blades. Erza notices immediately something is off as she backslides. "You have sharp instincts." Sagiso praises. "As expected of a fighter of your caliber. However, here you are no match for me. Allow me to demonstrate!" He closes in, " _He's fast!"_ Erza notes barely having time to dodge a blow as the black blade bounces off her chest plate. Leaving a thick crack. Sagiso grins, "That's no ordinary chest plate. One by one i'll cut down everything you throw at me, Titania. Then it'll be the rest of you." Erza grits her teeth angrily and charges in for another attack..

* * *

In the infirmary...

 _"It's...so bright...my body feels heavy..."_ Natsu thinks as he stares off trying to adjust his eyes to his surroundings. " _I was...chasing a light...where is it?"_ He suddenly get's a whiff of familiar smells and warm feeling, his eyes landing on the golden blur resembling the light he was following. Except now it was warming him even more. " _Ah..there's the light that saved me."_ Finally his eyes start to focus as everything comes into view. " _Wha..where am I?"_ He thinks. He looks down to see what has a tight grip in his left hand. " _Happy? And why is he crying? Don't worry little buddy! I'm here!"_ He wiggles his hand slightly as Happy stares up in shock. Natsu's eyes now land on the silky blonde hair rubbing against his right cheek. " _L-LUCY!?"_ His inner voice shrieks. Lucy is laying half ontop of Natsu on the gurney with her face buried in the crook of his neck and her arms wrapped around him in a grip that even Gildarts would be hard pressed to break. Natsu notes a few things. " _W-what's going on!? Why is Lucy crying!? Why is she on top of me!? And why is she wearing my scarf!?"_ His brain tries to process the last thing he remembers and Yotarou's voice hits him, ".. _and then I'll give you a graduation present.."_ He shakes off the memory not remembering how he got from there to here, but the fact is, he had Happy in one hand, and a weeping Lucy almost cuddling with him in the other. It wasn't how he imagined it before, but he'll take it nonetheless. " _Thanks old man! I love this present! Now comon body! Time to do something!"_ Summoning all his strength he manages to lift his drooped down right arm to rest onto Lucy's back startling her in the process. She looks up and finally their eyes lock. Natsu's faraway lifeless eyes are gone, and in its place are eyes devoid of any strength or energy, but Lucy could see the life flicker in them again. She looks up at him and watches intensely as the color starts coming back to his face, and his eyes shift around locking with her own. She could tell Natsu was there, he was back, he was awake and even though she fought so hard to get him back, she found herself in his arms. Her expression softens from shock to pure emotion. Tears start streaming endlessly down the sides of her face. Natsu manages a whisper, "Lu...cy." That was it. The crack in the damn finally burst and Lucy couldn't hold back anymore. Sobbing hard she pushed herself up grabbing the left side of Natsu's face with her right hand while kissing him on the left cheek over and over. Natsu was bewildered and on cloud nine at the same time, " _W-WHAT IS SHE DOING!? W-Well...I-I guess this is nice.."_ He thought to himself as it appears one of his dreams just came true, except Lucy wasn't crying. He was still confused by everything. Happy floated up and rubbed against Natsu's head as soon as Lucy lowered her right hand. "Natsu!" He smiled whispering out, "Ha..ppy. All that was left was to figure out a way for his body to start moving and get some energy flowing through him, that way he could enjoy this moment to the fullest.

* * *

Erza continues her fight with Sagiso. Thankfully years of combat training left her with sharp senses and great reflexes even under her current conditions. She's skillfully dodged attack after attack but hasn't been able to land a counter. She pants and thinks to herself, " _Why do I feel like my magic is draining more than usual? Focus...So far he's been attacking and blocking with the black sword, and from what I can tell waiting for an opening to attack with the other. Something isn't right.."_ Sagiso chimes in, "You look confused, Titania. It matters not. My field test as been a success. I think play time is over." He suddenly lunges at Erza with incredible speed slashing upwards with his black sword. She readies herself in a stance angling her swords in a cross parry and go in for a counter attack when suddenly the black blade breaks her guard leaving her wide open as a crack appears on one of her swords. She recovers quickly and thrusts the cracked sword at an opening in his stance making contact with the area just above his heart. To her dismay the end of her sword cracks off when contacting the armor hidden beneath his clothes, also destroying a small electronic device. He smiles back at her and slashes upward with his bronze sword and it passes through hers like a knife through butter as well as her left shoulder pad causing both to vanish completely, leaving a slice in her shoulder. Suddenly the happenings of that room are live to everyone in the factory as Erza's cry of pain bellows throughout the factory. Sagiso begins, "Allow me to tell you a story, Titania." He raises a blade up to her to keep her from moving. "As you know dragons came out of the eclipse gate during the Grand Magic Games. I was a scientist hired to study the gate itself. During the attack my wife in hiding, when a battle between a dragon and one of you mages crushed the building in the crossfire. I was already running to her when I watched the building collapse. Then an incident happened, which rewound time by a single minute showing people the future. However, fifty two seconds of that minute didn't matter, I was already going to where I needed to be. I watched my wife die twice, and I was helpless to do anything about it. Every worker in this building has had a tragedy befall them due to the work of mages. If you think about it, every major catastrophe since the time of dragons has been the work of mages. Your kind is a blight unto this world and I have found the cure. I told you the moment you entered this room your fate was sealed. That is because the walls of this room have been infused with the refined remains of the gate I've worked diligently to recover. Magic in this room cannot be created. In fact, the refining of the gate itself has made it so magic cannot be restored in this area. Now that I've confirmed the results of this test, I'll scale it down to make it so whenever mages are nearby me, the magical force will be nullified entirely making them even easier to kill." Erza grabs his sword with her hand as the armor covering it vanishes. She punches him in the face with the other and he dashes backwards to create some distance. Angrily she retorts, "I'm truly sorry for what's happened to you, but what you're talking about is genocide. Do you have any idea what we mages go through, and have gone through in order to fit in with normal society? Do you have any idea what we've lost just for who we are? You're going to kill everyone here? I won't let you lay a hand on any of them. They are my family!" She dashes forward lightning quick slashing down on the black sword as a piece of hers chips off at the end. During this exchange she remembers arriving at Fairy Tail, growing up with Natsu and Gray. Fighting with the young Mira. Meeting Lucy for the first time. "They are my heart and soul!" She pictures Jellal and her time working as a child on the R System. "I love them all, and no magic can give that to me!" She throws her broken sword at Sagiso causing him to put up a guard as she dashes back in striking a hard blow in an uppercut causing him to reel backwards. Unfortunately Erza has been weakened due to her time in the area, otherwise that exchange would of finished it. Sagiso get's back up clutching his swords. "I'm going to enjoy watching you die, Titania."

Everyone in the factory has been moved completely by Erza's words. Lucy, Natsu, and Happy are still embracing each other. Levy is in tears as Gajeel comforts her. Gray is clutching Juvia as he makes a mad dash up flights of stairs with tears in his eyes. Meredy recalls the short exchange not too long ago she had with Erza, as well as her encounter on Tenrou Island feeling the depth of her words she closes her eyes and brings a hand up to her heart feeling touched as well, as she stands over the bodies of the men she defeated in Erza's wake. Gajeel and Levy are startled apart as Jellal comes running down the hallway. "Where is Lucy and Happy!?" Gajeel points to the door he's standing next to. He runs in startling the two in question. Lucy tightens her grip on Natsu as if he would disappear the moment she let go. She looks up, "Jellal?" Realization hits her suddenly, " _How could I forget!?"_ She asks Jellal quickly, "Jellal! There was a man bleeding badly outside the door!" He shakes his head, "I only saw Gajeel and Levy." He walks up to the three of them observing Natsu, noting that he seems cognitive but very weak. He looks at all three of them and explains, "I stopped the manufacturing process, but the main boiler is housing a large piece of the eclipse gate. I'm going to destroy it. Once that happens your magic should start re-cooperating slowly, additionally it'll help Erza. However, I'm going to need your help specifically, Happy." Happy looks up in surprise, "Me?" Jellal nods smiling at him. He looks back over to Natsu. "I know how Erza is, she's buying us time right now. It's going to be up to us to finish this. However, I need to say this to you, Natsu. We heard what you said when we came here." Natsu thinks to himself, " _I said something?"_ Jellal continues, "We as mages, without exception are capable of destroying things." Guilt stabs at Natsu for a moment as he thinks about the incident that started this all. Lucy could feel his body tense. Jellal goes on, "However, some people have powers that go beyond being a mage. Natsu, you have the power to warm hearts. I'm proof of that." He smiles at Lucy. "Someone else figured this out befoe me, as well. It won't be much, but allow me to show you my gratitude one more time." He holds his hand out as it ignites with a weak golden flame. "This should give you a small boost." Natsu wearily and barely moves to reach his hand out from Lucy's back to Jellal's hand taking in the golden flame. Jellal nods to Natsu and turns to Happy, "Happy, let's go save everyone." Happy hops up, "Aye sir!" He hugs Natsu's head, then Lucy's which she returns the gesture before departing with Jellal. On the way out the door he stops and looks at Levy and Gajeel. "I'm going to need your help as well. Down that hall there's a corridor that leads to the main boiler room. I need you to do something about the coals firing it up, as well as making an opening in the ceiling. I have a plan to take it out, when you see my signal from up top clear out of there. Be careful of what's inside there. Can I count on you to do this?" They look at each other and smile, nodding back to Jellal.

* * *

Natsu stares at the golden flame in his hand as he struggles to bring it closer. His wrist is enveloped in warmth as Lucy's hands wrap around it helping him guide the flame to his mouth so he can feed on it and regain some strength. At least enough to talk and possible move around. He felt weak, and he was starving. Eventually his hand made it's way up and he ate the flames, swallowing them down as a flicker started to burn once again in his belly. Instantly his eyes light back up to their usual color and demeanor, and his skin returned to its typical tanned look. His face had filled back out again looking more revived. He looked instantly into the eyes of his partner. Those big expressive eyes that always lit up his world. After staring into each other for seemingly an eternity, Lucy shifted a hand up to move a lock of his hair away from his forehead, returning it back to the side of his face. His mind was racing a million miles a minute. He didn't know what was going on. He didn't know how he got here. All he knew was that Erza was having a life or death battle from the sounds of it over the speakers. Jellal was here for some reason, and suddenly knew about his deepest insecurity. Then there's the manner of his beautiful blonde partner laying on top of him, holding his face in her soft hand and staring into his soul in the most loving way he'd ever seen anyone stare at anything. Finally he speaks up, "Lucy...I-" His eyes widen as tears well up once again in Lucy's eyes and her arms wrap around him as she buries her head in the crook of his neck and proceeds to completely open up to him. "You idiot! Don't you ever leave me again." She sobs harshly causing Natsu's heart to twist in even more guilt than he already had. It felt like it was going to crack if it started to beat again. He breaths out, "Lucy..." Not entirely sure what to say. She continues on in a whisper. "I missed you so much..I..I thought you were...and now this.." She lifts her head up and wipes her tears away with the back of a hand she just freed from Natsu. Before he could give any sort of response she needed to pour her heart out just a bit more, having felt some relief from it. "Natsu...you aren't a monster." She feels his body tense up suddenly realizing how sensitive of a topic this was to him. She presses on, " You're the Salamander of Fairy Tail, you're one of our precious nakama, and you're _my_ Natsu." She looks up at his face and is shocked to see him teary eyed looking down at her with an expression she could only surmise as one would give when you've just touched their heart. Having regained some strength he wraps both his arms around the lower part of her back giving a meaningful hug. It was like a blanket of warmth and security for her that she desperately missed since he left. Lucy shifts up wrapping her arms around the back of his neck before leaning in..

 _The light and warmth of Fairy Tail. A light that can only shine brightly when it has it's warmth. A warmth that burns intensely with it's light._

..Natsu always wondered. Ever since Asuka's request and Lucy using Happy as a shield, it just stuck in the back of his mind. Now finally, another of his dreams is coming true. He had embraced Lucy, she embraced his back. She was kissing him, he was kissing her back. It was the sweeter than the sweetest meal, it burned hotter than the hottest fire. The last part of that sentence replaying over and over in his head like a mantra, "... _and you're my Natsu."_ It kept driving him to push further and further. He never wanted this moment to end and judging by the passion and the way Lucy was melting her lips into his, she didn't either. Eventually the need for oxygen broke them apart and Lucy rested her forehead against his for a moment before leaning back up and giving him a loving, warm look. She broke the silence, "Natsu...I-" Natsu cuts her off, "Yeah..I feel the same way." Before flashing her a smile that showed all his teeth and went from ear to ear. She gasps staring at the smile. How long has it been since she's seen that? How many times has he smiled that way at her, not knowing how much it lit a fire in her heart. She leaned back down rubbing her right cheek against his lovingly. There was no cliche confession. There was no more tension. Everything melted away when she was with him. There was simply understanding, silence, and peaceful thoughts. With tears in her eyes and a smile almost as big as his she replies, "Yeah!"

* * *

 _Back at the guild Laxus, the Rainjinshu, Wendy and Carla walk back in wondering where everyone went. Wendy greets Mira at the bar. "Hi Mira-san!" Mira is polishing a glass as she smiles warmly back, "Wendy it's good to see you." Suddenly a tear trickles down Mira's face and she drops her glass causing it to shatter on the floor. Wendy freaks out a little, "M-Mira-san! Is everything okay? Do you need healing?" Mira touches her face where the tear went down, "A happy tear? I get the feeling I just missed something really magical..."_

* * *

Now down at the boiler room Levy and Gajeel are hard at work. "Solid Script Water!" Levy casts out a spell sending water into the boiler rapidly cooling the burning coals. She sweats, noticing the heat in the area as well as her magic reserves getting low. Gajeel was shoving iron pillars where the boiler itself was holding up the stairwells to give them extra support so the building doesn't come down in that area. Finally for Jellal's request, "Iron Dragon's Roar!" He aims upwards sending the roar of twisted metal at the ceiling blowing a large hole into it. He pants a bit having used up a lot of his power with none of it returning. Levy runs over to him, "Here Gajeel! Solid Script Iron!" The word Iron pops out, with the "O" turned into a heart. "Oi, don't overdo it." She pouts a bit tiredly, but he smiles at her showing his gratitude in his face as he gobbles down the iron getting his strength back. "It's show time, let's see what that guy can do." Gajeel says as he picks Levy up and moves back to where it's safe. Outside the building Happy is flying above with Jellal, as soon as Gajeel's roar blows through the ceiling he instructs Happy. "Happy, I need you to fly me as fast as you can towards that hole and let go of me. I'll take care of the rest." Happy asks reluctantly, "But won't you get hurt?" Jellal smiles, "It'll be okay. We're doing this to save everyone. It's now or never." Happy retorts, "Aye sir! Max Speed!" Happy glows as he rockets to the goal with blistering speed deploying Jellal as if he were a cruise missle. Just as he let's go Jellal activates his attack, "Meteor!" His body lights up with incredible power as he gives it his all. He thinks to himself, " _Erza, please forgive me. It's my turn to protect you."_ Gajeel catches onto what he's doing, "Shit!" His iron scales cover his body as he runs torwards the boiler with Levy screaming his name in the process. "GAJEEL!" It was like a flash. Jellal rams his body into the large gate piece completely obliterating it as he smashes into the boiler itself causing a huge explosion that rocks every floor of the building.

With only half a sword left, and most of her armor vaporized, Erza struggles to catch her breath as Sagiso, with bruises on his face from her punches, moves in to attack. He had expected a tough fight, this was _the_ Erza Scarlet after all. However he didn't expect this much resilience, even when she was near magicless. He didn't care though, he was doing to see this all through, then rebuild anew somewhere else where he can put the finishing touches on things before he exterminates all mages everywhere. He lunches going in for an attack when he feels the building rattle and he loses his balance. Catching it back again he wonders aloud, "What!? What was that!?" Erza breathes out a response, "It looks like...you forgot...Fairy Tail's specialty.." Sagiso, wearing off the shock and going back to a livid response, "What specialty!?" She smiles back, "Property destruction." Sagiso collects himself chuckling at the joke, "So it would seem. That's fine, I have all I need right here!" He goes in slashing the remains of Erza's sword with his bronze sword, switching now to carry out a finishing blow with the black one. Erza sweats, " _I'm not going to make it!"_ She winces closing her eyes, but nothing happens. She opens them back up and immediately goes wide eyed after hearing Sagiso gasp in pain. She looks up to see an icy arrow had pierced his arm, and another one whipped by over her head into the other causing him to drop both his weapons as he cries out in pain once again. "H-How is this possible!?" Erza looks back to see Gray standing over a crouching Meredy with his ice bow. He answers the question, "You said it yourself, Magic cannot be created in this room, but you never said it couldn't from outside." Sagiso stares him down, "You..you heard all of that!?" Meredy responds, "We heard everything..now stay away from Erza! Maguilty Sodom!" Blue blades start appearing one after another striking down onto Sagiso until he's incapacitated. Gray and Meredy rush in to help Erza up. "Thanks.." she utters out. "Gray, did you find Natsu?" He shakes his head. Erza worries for a moment but then smiles, "Lucy found him. I have a feeling." She then thinks about the explosion, "Can you take me to where the explosion came from? I have a feeling Jellal is there." Gray and Meredy nod as they tie up Sagiso, then head out of the room to a now revived Juvia who's up and walking. Gray's eyes widen, "Juvia!" She smiles warmly at him before falling against a wall barely catching her step. Gray looks at Meredy, "Can I trust you with Erza?" She smiles back and nods allowing Gray to assist Juvia.

Back down in the boiler room on the first floor everyone reconvenes one after another. First Lucy, assisting Natsu with walking, come down the stairs and see Levy freaking out. "Levy-chan!" Lucy calls out gaining her attention, "Lu-chan! You found Natsu!" Natsu slightly lifts his head and smiles with a chuckle. Lucy asks, "What's wrong Levy-chan? Where's Gajeel?" Levy looks back at the destroyed remains of the boiler. "He ran in there while Jellal was destroying it. I haven't seen him come out yet.." Then Meredy with Erza, and Gray with Juvia come down the same set of stairs. They immediately crowd Natsu. "Natsu, you've been missed." Erza places a hand on his head and ruffles his hair. "Natsu-san, Gray-sama has been bored without you." Juvia pouts a bit. Gray eyes Natsu for a moment before smiling, "You look like hell flame-brain." Natsu smiles, "I heard everything...over the speakers...nice job...stripper." He manages to breathe out still not having regained his strength. He raises a fist up towards Gray, they bump fists and gray smiles back. "I hope you're not too tired for a rumble when we get back." Natsu chuckles acknowledging the challenge. Happy flies in hugging Natsu's head immediately. "Missed you too...little buddy." Natsu manages to speak out. Erza looks around, "Where's Gajeel, and Jellal?" Levy tears up, "They're under the-" Before she could finish a large bit of rubble shifts and Gajeel stands up with one eye closed as he's all beat up looking, he pulls Jellal out as well and drops him on the floor then speaks out, "This guy's something else, gihihi." He finishes with a smile. Levy runs and jumps into his arms. He answers the unsaid question, "I'm alright. I'm a dragon slayer, this is nothing." He smiles proudly. Jellal lays motionless as Erza stumble-runs to his side, "Jellal!" She props his head up into her lap and brushes his forehead with her hand and tries to revive him a bit by lightly palming his cheek. He eventually comes to, "Erza..." He whispers. "Sorry I couldn't take it down sooner.." He finishes. Erza smiles at him, "You really do have to shoulder everything don't you?"

Eventually after resting up a bit, everyone gathers their strength and starts heading back into clover town. Realization dawns upon Lucy, who's still helping Natsu walk with his arm around her. "Natsu? Here's your scarf back." She goes to unravel it when a hand stops her. "No, you can keep it for a while. It looks good on you." He grins at her as she blushes furiously. _"Even now he makes me feel like this.."_ Levy eyes them with a sly grin. "So Lu-chan, I couldn't but notice you and Natsu being a little cozy...would you two perhaps..." Happy jumps in for the fun of it, "llllllikkkkeee eachother?" Lucy doesn't blush or freak out or deny anything, in fact she shocks Levy and the rest of the group completely by boldly proclaiming the unknown, "No, we're actually well passed that." She locks her fingers into one of Natsu's hands before leaning up and kissing him on the cheek and smiling back at Levy in the most, "In your face" way possible. Natsu uses his free hand to rub the back of his head while chuckling with a smile and a light blush. "Ehheheh..it's true" Everyone's eyes pop of their socket. Juvia rejoices, "No more Love-rival!" Erza is a stammering mess, "S-s-s-o cute..." Levy is just a stone statue at a loss for words. The men all look at Natsu and give an approving nod. Happy is well...happy. Now that his two partners were "together" it was obvious how much brighter they were glowing. The group all kept heading out not knowing what to expect, but one thing was certain. Fairy Tail just got more interesting.

* * *

 **A/N**

The final chapter of the story, and it's longest! I truly hope you all enjoyed it. I will be putting up an epilogue in a few days as I have a family gathering to attend to. To my reviewers, you are awesome! Snowflake did you catch your cameo? I also added in another cameo for a the writer of a story I've been following which is really really good, if you haven't check it out already I highly recommend it, "My Special Star" by peacefulthoughts. So this one goes out to you peacefulthoughts! This story originally started as an idea, with a single scene, and it built it's own world around that scene. Which was Natsu and Lucy holding each other on that medical bed. From there idea's were born on how to include everyone else, as well as my favorite ships, and some of my favorite characters. I tried to keep them all "in character" as much as possible, so I hope I achieved that much. Until the epilogue, thank you all, thank you so much!

-Ant


	13. Epilogue

"So many of our dreams at first seem impossible, then they seem improbable, and then, when we summon the will, they soon become inevitable."

-Christopher Reeve

A few days had gone by and everyone arrived back in Magnolia without too many incidents. Natsu and Gajeel protested but eventually their significant others coaxed them into a train to get home quicker, both deciding the motion sickness was worth it when they received some pampering for their troubles. Jellal and Meredy came with them to submit a report to Makarov about what happened and how he should convince the magic council to take action in safeguarding the area where the gate was smashed until the remains are completely obliterated.

The large group entered the doors together garnering stares among the quiet guildhall. "Welcome back every-" she notices a certain somebody has returned, "-Natsu!" She runs excitedly over and gives him a hug the way a mother would welcome their child home. Everyone jumps in and starts bombarding him with question. "What happened?" "Are you okay?" "Lucy was worried about you!" "Where's your scarf?" "Natsu-san! -sniffle-" "Eyyyy Natsu! Wanna sip?" "A man returns home!"

Lucy kind of hovered around soaking everything back in. The guild hall had been so quiet and now it's buzzing with energy again. She missed this feeling, like everything was restoring back to the way it should be. So she closed her eyes and took in a deep breath through her nose as everything finally clicked back into place. " _Hey Natsu's back Let's party! -cheers-"_ This was it, this was the guild she loved, and now she was back in the mix of things, with the man she loved. She opened her eyes and almost magnetically they fell on Natsu, and as if his were the attracting pole they fell into hers. Even though he was being bombed with questions and hugs he flashed her that grin that went from ear to ear, showing off the entirety of his smile. She looked at him lovingly before flashing one back at him.

"My, my. It seems we have a couple of guests. Is there anything I can get for you two?" Mira asks Jellal and Meredy. Jellal looks at Meredy before turning back to Mira, "We're fine, thank you. If you'll excuse us, could you show us to Master Makarov's office?" Mira replies, "Certainly, i'll show you to him right away." She finishes with a smile. Erza interjects, "I better go as well, Master will want my side of the report since we were all involved." Mira nods and escorts them to Master.

The party kicks off as booze flies around, Gray loses his shirt causing several guild members to burst into tears that he was acting normal again, the inevitable brawl broke out as it looked like the tazmanian devil was spinning through the guild hall sucking in Natsu, Gray, Gajeel and several other members which game to a grinding hault when Laxus, fresh off of a boring mission decided he needed to shake off some rust and joined in as well. Even outside of the guild the atmosphere just screamed, "fun."

Eventually the bustling stopped and everyone saddled down into their usual locations. Mira looked over everyone with a happy sigh as she too was just really excited to see and hear everyone being so animated. However, curiosity was looming over her like a stormy cloud. She looked over at Natsu and Lucy whom seemed to be sitting...intimately close. "Wha?" She looks up at Lucy now noticing she's still wearing Natsu's scarf even though he's right next to her. With Happy floating around them giggling with his paws up to his mouth like he was just teasing them. "When did?" Her eyes widen even more when she see's Gray casually lay an arm over Juvia's shoulder when he was seemingly telling a story to Lucy and Natsu. "What's going?" Her brain really started to short circuit when she noticed Gajeel and Levy getting cozy together. Then there was this glow about all of them. It wasn't like they were being hit with a light, but they just had this aura emanating from each pair. The straw that broke the camels back was when Lucy and Natsu were laughing at something Gray said, and she noticed during the laughter Lucy placing a hand on Natsu's chest.

"WHATS HAPPENING!?" She yelled out. The guild hall froze as they stared at the frantic barmaid. "You're all s-s-so close!" She's shaking in excitement at this point. "D-d-d-did something happen while you were all out?" Directing her question to all the pairs in the room. Natsu stood up, "Well..on the way back here we all kinda decided this at the same time but...we're all officially-" The doors nearly blew off as the ceiling shifts from the sheer shock of the entire guild going, "EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHHHHHH!?" Mira was collapsed on the ground with hearts in her eyes, while Lissana and Wendy ran around hugging and congratulating the now official couples. Mavis was sitting up in the rafters looking down at everyone sighing with contempt, " _This is one of the many reasons I love Fairy Tail."_ She thinks to herself. Finally one big cheer occurs, as now, a congratulations party is thrown.

Eventually the party ended, and it was time for Jellal and Meredy to continue their quest. Erza, Natsu, Lucy, Happy, Gajeel, Levy, Gray and Juvia all accompanied them to the train station. It didn't seem right watching them go. Even though they only know them for a short time it felt like they belonged in Fairy Tail. Jellal carried a lot with him, but you could feel his caring and protective heart. Meredy had a positive energy to her that felt like she would fit right in. Unfortunately the truth was, they were fugitives and couldn't remain in one spot too long. It all ended at the train station.

Jellal looked at everyone, seeing their down faces and decided he wanted to leave on a good note. "Listen everyone, we appreciate you all joining us-" He get's interjected by Gray no less, "Do you have to leave?" Natsu joins in, "Ya you should come with us back to Fairy Tail!" Gajeel grins, "I wouldn't mind going a round or two with ya." The girls are practically begging Meredy to join while she stands there with a smile and a sweat-drop. "Enough!" Everyone freezes in terror as Erza yells. "They can't..." Everyone's mood downs once again.

Jellal smiles at everyone inwardly thanking them for touching his heart. "My quest isn't just for me, it's for the sake of all mages, so they can live without fear. We're fugitives of the magic council, I broke out of prison. We can't stay here. Natsu, Lucy, Happy." All three of them look up at him. "You are the light, the warmth, and the spirit of Fairy Tail. I believe the three of you can get through anything together." They smile at him with tears prickling from the corner of Lucy's eyes, and Happy yelling out an, "Aye!" He shifts his gaze, "Gray, Juvia." They look at him curiously. "You are the left and right legs. No matter where you go, I feel like you'll always find your way back to each other, and back to Fairy Tail." They smile, tears now forming in Juvia's eyes as she clutches Gray's arm. Jellal turns once again. "Levy, Gajeel. You are the brain and the heart of the guild." Gajeel, shocked by this goes to protest believing something different, "Oi-" Jellal interrupts this time. "Thank you for pulling me out back there. I know of your history. Fairy Tail has the ability to waver hearts, turning enemies into allies..no..irreplaceable family." He steps in placing a hand on Gajeel's shoulder, "You are it's greatest example, and there's no shame in knowing that." Gajeel looks down at Levy still shocked as she looks up at him with tears in her eyes hugging his waist. He eventually breaks free and smiles with his typical laugh, "Gihi!" Jellal finally fixes his gaze on his last target. "Erza..You are it's two strong arms, wrapping around it's family to protect them from anything." At this point tears are streaming down the scarlet beauty's face. He smiles affectionately at her and walks over, lifting her chin up with a hand and then placing it on her cheek wiping a tear away from one side of her face. "Fairy Tail needs you now more than ever. Your family needs you, and they'll always be here with you." He looks over at the other mages and they smile and nod at Erza. "One day my mission will end, and i'll come back to you. Until then, i'll have to keep borrowing your strength." He pulls her into a hug, then departs with Meredy as the last call for boarding shouts overhead.

Erza monologues inwardly, " _Jellal..you've always shouldered so many burdens. You've always thrown your life away for everyone else. One day i'll give you back everything you've given me. Until then.."_ She smiles wiping her remaining tears away. " _This will have to be our answer."_ Happy giggles a bit, "Hey Erza!" She looks over at him, "hm?" He points to a part of the train station wall where someone grafiti'd a heart with an arrow going through it. "Pfffft fufufufu" Erza uppercuts him sending him flying into the air with a sparkle showing his distance, "AYYYYEEEEEEEEEE!"

* * *

 _Seven Years Later..._

Everyone jostles around for position in the classroom. It had been a few weeks but the kids have all been doing well. The teacher wasn't expecting any surprises until one of the staff comes in and informs him of something, "A new student?" He notice's a figure peeking from around the door to the class, "It's alright kid you can come in." The prospective student comes in and looks up at the teacher. He grins immediately noticing familiar features on the cute little girl. "You can all me Yotarou-sensei. I want you to face the class and tell them your name, why you come from, and why you're here. The girl inwardly cries to herself, " _This is so embarrassing! Oh well, might as well own it!"_ She coughs, adjusting her white scaled scarf and swing her long pink hair to the side before announcing to the class, "My name is Nashi Dragneel, I come from Magnolia, and-" Energy surges through her chocolate brown large eyes as they almost spark leaving the other kids in awe, as she raises a fist igniting it with a flame before finishing, "-I'm here to learn more before I become a Fairy Tail mage like my mom and dad!"

 _Back in magnolia..._

"Natsu! How do you think Nashi is going to do in school? I hope she makes friends..I wanted to enroll her before the year started but our last mission took too long. I packed her a decent lunch, and I made sure she had all her supplies, and-" Suddenly the panicking blonde is enveloped in a calming embrace. "She'll be just fine. She's ours remember?" Natsu states, instantly calming Lucy down. She settles into his embrace wrapping her arms around him before looking around at their collection of pictures. One with her and Natsu holding each other as they smile blindingly at the camera. Another neatly decorated with a frame that has paw prints on the border, on the bottom a message saying, "Congratulations Mr and Mrs Dragneel" Showing them in their wedding attire, a bump clearly visible on Lucy's belly. Another one showing Natsu and Lucy holding Nashi as a baby with Happy hovering over them like one big beautiful family. Finally, a picture with a cracked lens, and a taped up frame, showing a young Lucy smiling widely as she stands with her parents.

* * *

 **A/N**

Finally the end of the story! I'm really happy with this way it's turned out. I just came back from my trip to see my family and it was great. But anyways, I wanted to thank everyone who has followed, favorited, and reviewed my story. I hope you guys enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. I'm going to be doing a few one shots I have ideas for in my head. The next one I write will be a one shot about the guys getting drunk to get revenge on the girls. Then i'll be doing a Nalu one shot to honor one of my favorite writers here. So stay tuned for those, thank you all so much and I look forward to the future :)

-Ant


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